Wow, it is hard to fathom that another year has almost slipped by since I last posted. What a year. I decided on thigh reconstructive surgery with Dr. Agha. He is amazing and aggressive about getting the best contour possible. I did, unfortunately, have complications. Looking back and knowing what my body has gone through, now, it is like duh, of course I had complications. But then,we did not expect them so it was quite a shock. 

I had a thigh lift, vertical thighplastcy and lipo 6-12-12. I also had a revision of my lower body lift scar and Dr. Agha was actually able to lower it by almost 2 inches. in July, my surgery unravelled and I had very large open wounds in my inner area from  groin to knee and on my back all the way across. We had done wet to dry dressings for weeks and finally returned to Dr. Agha after constant contact while this all occurred. I also had a nasty case of cellulitis pop up while I was home in Las Vegas. After I healed with help from Dr. Agha and a wound vac, I had another surgery where he closed up the wounds and revised again and spent 6 weeks in Cali in a hotel room next to John Wayne airport. I moved very little trying to help healing. I was able to return home in September, but then spent a night in the hospital for severe anemia (3%) and 2 blood transfusions. Next 5 weeks spent meeting a hematologist and getting iron infusions. Hema wanted to know WHY I was anemic. I thought it was just because of the past 6 months trauma on my physical body, but he wanted a colonoscopy and follow up. I jumped back for a Pap smear with my regular doc since I was overdue. 2 days after my colonoscopy came back clean, a OBGYN testing resulted with the result of endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma. Turns out, I had blow off a bad pap flag in August 2010 and didn't follow up. Might have had the cancer even back then. 

Full hysterectomy was done and they thought they got it all, but last week, they sent me to a radiation oncologist and want further treatment of chemo and rad therapy. My head is spinning, there goes the rest of the teaching year. I was supposed to go back to work 2/4/13 after my 6weeks for the hysterectomy but there that goes.  I am very concerned about the lymph nodes as I have had leg swelling since June and before. After surgeries, even with constant compression, legs look bad if I have been on them a few hours: bad news for a teacher on her feet 10 hours a day.

God is in control and I am not. The past years eating would have resulted in significant weight gain if not for the DS. I have: eaten crap, eaten too much, eaten when I was not hungry, eaten for emotional comfort, and experienced far more Acid and heartburn than in the prior 7 years. However, day of surgery- 140lbs in December. I am holding around 144-146 pounds.

Since my DH has been sleeved just a few days ago, I know I have even more cause to clean up my eating, so I am back to work my DS I the best way I can. Getting off sugar is sooo hard, but it feeds cancer and makes me feel crappy. Trying to finally grow up and stop my diet of an 8 year old.

Still here. I haven't been back in the 140's in the past month or so, but was 149 in December, I believe. Today, I was 158. I also was in the office of Dr. A for consultation on my lymphodemia and other issues regarding thighs and legs. It, of course, is the last stand for me - what keeps me from feeling normal. I wish there were one reconstructive genius with thigh work. I know it is a difficult balance- being safe and knowing any results are also going to have extensive nasty scars...or worse, poor results, difficult recovery and then STILL nasty extensive scars.  My veins are also problematic, and my vein doc told me that he wanted to wait to address the pain and issues after any leg work for the skin and lymphatic issues... what a mixed up bundle of mess it is!

In a few days I am 7 years post-op. Am I thankful; definitely. Am I starting to feel anxious about my eating - yes. I have been eating when I am not hungry and eating too much lately. I have seen the slide from my 'normal range' 153-158 and hit 165 last week. I have to be in constant vigilance.  I know how I gained weight - 5 little pounds a month and emotional eating years ago, and thought I was over that. However, the recent gain slippery slope and my constant thoughts of food don't bode well, but I need to keep the faith! God has taken care of me thus far, I need to stop worrying and start trusting.

It saysdo not worry or be anxious, but I believe recently with work and  everything else, I have been prey to anxiousness. I am worried about this surgery. I don't want to have it, but yet, it is necessary. :(  Last leg standing, as it were.

March 10, 2011 will be 6 years since my DS revision that changed my life (and extended it!) That's less than a month away.

I've made it through the most difficult year of my life (with many blessings, too, though).

I met my husband in August 2009. (blessing) 

He proposed in October 2009. (blessing)

My mother fell and broke her hip December 25th, 2009 - limiting her to Seattle so she was no longer where I live in Las Vegas.

She missed my wedding January 10, 2010. (wedding was the blessing) 

I was in Seattle during March 2010 for my upper body lift surgery - mom was in the assisted living, so it wasn't the same without her there :( ... but it was a blessing to be able to stay in her home. Difficult surgery, not a very relaxing break from school!

I went to Seattle in May 2010 again due to mom's declining health... again in August...

school started again after 2 week vacation (no summer break for me... changed from a year-round school to 9 month).

We closed on our home and moved October 4th. (big blessing)

I was in Seattle again in October (7th or 8th) then back end of October/November and she died November 6, 2010. Her service was November 21, 2010.  (The blessing was that I was there the day she died, we kissed goodbye, she sent me off to lunch with a friend, and died with my sister taking care of her 2 hours later). A huge blessing is that my mom had not lost her mental awareness or had she been experiencing great pain, her body was just worn out and ready to move on to the next part of her journey. I'm thankful I know where my mom Gloria is now, though I miss her so much everyday.

Christmas was here in Las Vegas. It was quite difficult but good in that we had DD's parents and sons with us. A whirlwind....I was a bit of an emotional wreck, but grief just takes time.

However... in all this, I have maintained and lost weight. That would NOT have been the case previously.

I have reached my new low of 147.6

I have seen the 140's more consistently and am trending to stay in the low 150s. Constant Vigilance. I am up to get my labs and dexas again soon.  I will need to up the ante, I'm sure on getting my a, d, and calcium up to snuff.

My goal since 1983 has been getting to 149 pounds as in end of 1982 I did make 152 but never got back to the 140s.

Today I stepped on the scale (three times to make sure) and it read 149.6

I am going to upload the photo if I can.

There are very difficult circumstances going on right now - my mom is dying, we just bought a new house, the new school year has been stressful... but the fact my DS is STILL WORKING for me and after 5 years seven months I am still losing, it gives me hope that this is going to continue with my CONSTANT VIGILANCE. There have been times the scale swings the other way and if I let it go, it probably would trend up... what can I say.

I am thankful. I am humbled by those who say I'm a success. I am feeling very fragile in my emotions right now so this is one nice thing. I am .... cognizent.... of my need for nutrition work on consistancy.
 
It's not the best eating but I guess portion control helps. Fitday says something like 2500 calories,and just for fun I put in my (crappy) eating yesterday. It came in around 2200 or so. My protein was a little low so I need to increase my shakes - had one already today... I need to get at least 2 in with my regular food.

I'm pretty delighted - made a post today in DS forums. As of today, I'm at 151.8 - I did hit that briefly at 36 months out, then had gone up a bit and down a bit again -

Since my last post, the weight has been slowly going down with the swelling... I think my swelling is pretty much gone by now and my weight has been stable, not big jumps up or down so it's feeling good.

We'll see if I hit that dream goal of 24.9 bmi with 2 more pounds off!!!

I love life, it's chaotic crazy, we're moving soon, my mom is in Seattle now, my cat Ginny passed over the Rainbow Bridge 6 months ago - she disappeared and we believe she was Coyote kibble. :( I have a new class this year and it's busier than ever.

2005
440 high weight 3/7/05
435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 –45!!
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21!!
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 –11 Skied!
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8

2006
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9 Skied!
11 month Feb 10 274 – 9
12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!)   Skied!
13 month Apr 10 259 – 0
14 month May 10 250 – 9 –190lbs 65% EWL  Skied!
15 month June 10 248 – 2
16 month July 10 232- 16 (-208lbs)
17 month Aug 10 230– 2 (-210lbs)
18 month Sept 10 228 – 2 (-212lbs in 18 months)
19 month Oct 10 211 – 16!! (-229lbs)
20 month Nov 10 214  +3 (-226lbs)
21 month Dec 10 202 – 8 (-238lbs)

2007
22 month Jan 10 214 + 12 (-226lbs) (Lots of fluid retention for some reason!)
23 month Feb 10 195 - 19 (-245lbs)(84% EWL, 32.4 BMI)
24 month Mar 10 188 – 7  (-252lbs in 24 months)
25 month Apr 10 184 – 4  (-256lbs) 30.6 BMI
26 month May 12 184 - 0  (-256lbs)
27 month Jun 10 190 +6  (-250lbs)
28 month July 10 177 -13 (-263lbs) 29.5 BMI (Overweight!!!)
PLASTICS July 11, 2007 Belt Lipectomy with Thigh Lipo! (177 day of surgery,20lbs taken off of skin and fat)
29 month Aug 10 172 –7 (-268lbs) (Still major swelling!)
30 month Sep 10 168 –4 (-272lbs) (Still fluid retention) BMI 28.0
31 month Oct 10 165 –3 (-275lbs)
32 month Nov 10 162 –3 (-278lbs) BMI 27.0
33 month Dec 10 160 –2 (-280lbs)
2008
34 month Jan 10 158 –2 (-282lbs) BMI 26.3
35 month Feb 10 156 –2 (-284lbs)
36 month Mar 10 153 –3 (-287lbs) (got to 151 for a half hour!) 
37 month Apr 10 166 + 13
38 month May 10 174 + 8
39 month Jun 10 177  + 3
40 month Jul 10 181  + 4
41 month Aug 10 167 -14
42 month Sep 10 163 -4
43 month Oct 10 160 -3 (-280lbs) 

next 2 years or so ---- been maintaining between 157 and 163 or so. I was 155 on my wedding day 1.10.10 and usually am somewhere around 160 or so. On the day of my brachioplastcy and breast lift, Dr. Egrari removed 2 more pounds of skin, but of course with swell hell I ballooned up from 158 on day of surgery to 166 a few days ago. Today I'm down to 162 again, so it's going the right direction. I'm sure it'll be a while, if ever, that those 2 lost pounds actually reflect in my weight. In my future I still have thigh work to be done and Dr. Egrari stated he thought I probably had 5-10 pounds each leg - realistically, I'd probably say no more than 7 pounds each, but with that 14 pounds off and if the 2 ever showed, my weight would maybe be in the 140's.... that'd be amazing and I'd finally reach a normal bmi which for me is 149 pounds to get 24.9 bmi. 

I'm not betting the farm on it ever happening (that I get into the 140's) and it really doesn't make much difference to me anyway - weight is now just a number I use to keep in line with constant vigilance. I cannot be one that doesn't ever get on the scale. I need to weigh daily or nearly daily so that I don't let the evil carbs take over. Weight gain CAN and DOES happen with the DS, don't let anyone ever tell you it's a free ride to eat whatever you want!   If I hit 166-167, that's my 'uh oh' number that I had better get my **S moving more and my mouth eating less and start paying attention!

Post Date: 11/26/09 1:15 pm
I am so thankful. This year has been momentous.

I'm very very thankful for my fiance DPD, he's awesome and I am glad I held out for something more. I looked back at my last blog post 5/09 and I said I was still holding out for passion and something more than 'meh'. DPD is all that. :) We are getting married 1.10.10 !!!!!! This is my first marriage and the Rascal Flatts song 'Waiting All My Life' says it all.

I'm thankful that I'm maintaining my weight. Constant vigilance is required, it would be really easy to start an uphill weight creep but I weigh daily and keep it in mind even when I'm eating too many sweets. Fortunately (and I'm so thankful for) my DS - I could never have kept the 280lbs gone otherwise.

I'm thankful that I have a good job and I love teaching children, even when this year I'm preoccupied with wedding plans and taking care of my almost 86 year old mother. I'm thankful that I'm staying with her and able to really spend time with her, she's such a delight.

Blessings to all of you,

Jill - revision from band to DS 3/10/05 by Dr. Baltasar, Spain
440/160/149  hw/cw/gw - 5'5" -280lbs
lower belt lipectomy/lipo 7/07, looking for more PS thigh work 4/10
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani - Jill's Journey shows monthly front/side/back for my first two years or so.

I have so much to be thankful for: 
a job
my mother - she's doing well and I'm so thankful to be able to spend time with her
my fiance DPD - the love of my life
my cat Ginny
my friends
my family
my body - maintaining around 160lbs.
a wedding coming on 1.10.10 :) 
and certainly not least - I'm thankful for God's sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ who died for me so I could be at peace with God.

December 10 - 157 :-)
January 10 156!
LOL!!!!
Hey, if I can even stay with 1 pound down a month, I'll make my goal by August... Hopefully it'll be a bit sooner than that, but I'm not giving up on 149 pounds and my dream bmi of 24.9 :) 

All is good, I'm on vacation through the 22nd since I'm at a year-round school. I love teaching first grade and teaching all girls is a dream! I couldn't be happier and I'm getting on top of the curriculum and all of that.

VW is good, we're still plugging along. It's hard to know... especially since I've never been in this position and had a very romantic imaginative view of what a relationship would be like - fueled by too many romance novels, no doubt.

Nov 10, 2008 weight 158

Well, I didn't quite make my projected of 157 but I was close. I updated my lab rat data and made a post on the DS mail list.

I'm so happy to have had the DS.

Now it's just 4 months short of 4 years and I find that life is smoothing out... it's a whole less frenetic and I don't tend to worry as much about the "is this going to work" or things like that.

I know I can work with the DS. When I got up to 177, yeah, I panicked a little, but it started coming back down right away.

I think if I did any real exercising I could get down even a little more, but I've kinda come to the realization that I may just bounce around from 158-162 and I'm fine with that. Much more than 162 and I think I need to put the kibosh on the carbs.

I've gotten used to the idea of being a medium size in most things. I've gotten used to being able to wear a size 10 or thereabouts and I enjoy it. Yeah, I wish my thighs weren't the saggy baggy elephant legs that they are, but frankly, as far as where I am now - it is what it is. I can't change my body structure or the damage that 20+ years of obesity has wreaked on my body.

I want so badly to get my arms and breasts done, but coming up with $17848 is well nigh impossible in the present economy and on my present budget. I'm still going to be paying for my student loans and the credit cards that I paid for the last surgery with! I still owe $28k on the two cards - more than my surgery cost, but that included some bills the last year that I was in school getting my masters.

Anyway, life is good. I enjoyed meeting with some DS gals the other night. I met Majormom and Shirextc, and went to dinner with them and of course, my dear friend PattyL. Fun time!

2005
440 high weight 3/7/05
435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 –45!!
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21!!
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 –11 Skied!
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8

2006
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9 Skied!
11 month Feb 10 274 – 9
12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!)   Skied!
13 month Apr 10 259 – 0
14 month May 10 250 – 9 –190lbs 65% EWL  Skied!
15 month June 10 248 – 2
16 month July 10 232- 16 (-208lbs)
17 month Aug 10 230– 2 (-210lbs)
18 month Sept 10 228 – 2 (-212lbs in 18 months)
19 month Oct 10 211 – 16!! (-229lbs)
20 month Nov 10 214  +3 (-226lbs)
21 month Dec 10 202 – 8 (-238lbs)

2007
22 month Jan 10 214 + 12 (-226lbs) (Lots of fluid retention for some reason!)
23 month Feb 10 195 - 19 (-245lbs)(84% EWL, 32.4 BMI)
24 month Mar 10 188 – 7  (-252lbs in 24 months)
25 month Apr 10 184 – 4  (-256lbs) 30.6 BMI
26 month May 12 184 - 0  (-256lbs)
27 month Jun 10 190 +6  (-250lbs)
28 month July 10 177 -13 (-263lbs) 29.5 BMI (Overweight!!!)
PLASTICS July 11, 2007 Belt Lipectomy with Thigh Lipo! (177 day of surgery,20lbs taken off of skin and fat)
29 month Aug 10 172 –7 (-268lbs) (Still major swelling!)
30 month Sep 10 168 –4 (-272lbs) (Still fluid retention) BMI 28.0
31 month Oct 10 165 –3 (-275lbs)
32 month Nov 10 162 –3 (-278lbs) BMI 27.0
33 month Dec 10 160 –2 (-280lbs)
2008
34 month Jan 10 158 –2 (-282lbs) BMI 26.3
35 month Feb 10 156 –2 (-284lbs)
36 month Mar 10 153 –3 (-287lbs) (got to 151 for a half hour!) 
37 month Apr 10 166 + 13
38 month May 10 174 + 8
39 month Jun 10 177  + 3
40 month Jul 10 181  + 4
41 month Aug 10 167 -14
42 month Sep 10 163 -4
43 month Oct 10 160 -3 (-280lbs) 
Projected:

44 month Nov 10 157 -3
45 month Dec 10 155 -2
46 month Jan 10 153 -2
 

2005
440 high weight 3/7/05
435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 –45!!
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21!!
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 –11 Skied!
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8

2006
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9 Skied!
11 month Feb 10 274 – 9
12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!)   Skied!
13 month Apr 10 259 – 0
14 month May 10 250 – 9 –190lbs 65% EWL  Skied!
15 month June 10 248 – 2
16 month July 10 232- 16 (-208lbs)
17 month Aug 10 230– 2 (-210lbs)
18 month Sept 10 228 – 2 (-212lbs in 18 months)
19 month Oct 10 211 – 16!! (-229lbs)
20 month Nov 10 214  +3 (-226lbs)
21 month Dec 10 202 – 8 (-238lbs)

2007
22 month Jan 10 214 + 12 (-226lbs) (Lots of fluid retention for some reason!)
23 month Feb 10 195 - 19 (-245lbs)(84% EWL, 32.4 BMI)
24 month Mar 10 188 – 7  (-252lbs in 24 months)
25 month Apr 10 184 – 4  (-256lbs) 30.6 BMI
26 month May 12 184 - 0  (-256lbs)
27 month Jun 10 190 +6  (-250lbs)
28 month July 10 177 -13 (-263lbs) 29.5 BMI (Overweight!!!)
PLASTICS July 11, 2007 Belt Lipectomy with Thigh Lipo! (177 day of surgery,20lbs taken off of skin and fat)
29 month Aug 10 172 –7 (-268lbs) (Still major swelling!)
30 month Sep 10 168 –4 (-272lbs) (Still fluid retention) BMI 28.0
31 month Oct 10 165 –3 (-275lbs)
32 month Nov 10 162 –3 (-278lbs) BMI 27.0
33 month Dec 10 160 –2 (-280lbs)
2008
34 month Jan 10 158 –2 (-282lbs) BMI 26.3
35 month Feb 10 156 –2 (-284lbs)
36 month Mar 10 153 –3 (-287lbs) (got to 151 for a half hour!) 
37 month Apr 10 166 + 13
38 month May 10 174 + 8
39 month Jun 10 177  + 3
40 month Jul 10 181  + 4
41 month Aug 10 167 -14

Projected = Wish, Hope!
42 month Sep 10 163 -4
43 month Oct 10 159 -4
44 month Nov 10 157 -2
45 month Dec 10 152 -5
46 month Jan 10 149 -3
 

Well, it's been a few months since the last post - at the time, I thought I was done gaining,but actually, I hit a high of 181 - 30 pounds higher than the low of 151 which was sometime around March 3, 2008.

I had 3, actually, 4 months of gain, then thankfully, it's been going down since then. March 153, April 166, May 174, June 177, July 181, August 169, and now for Sept, right now I'm at about 163.  I'll have to doublecheck the numbers, but that's off the top of my head.

Getting back to work will help a lot since I'm more active. When I went on vacation in late July, I dropped 14 pounds, so I know being active has something to do with it.

I'm still alive, the DS is still wonderful, and I'm happy to be here! Will post more later, hopefully.

At 3 years out, there was a dramatic change in how much I can now consume. I'm having to watch myself and try to work to get back my restriction. It's still there, but seems like it opened up 3 or 4 or even 6 more ounces - ugh! 

I also had a low weight that I hit for a day (basically a few days before my 3rd year anniversary, and then jumped back up. My lowest weight was 151 for half a day, lol, and then within days on my 3rd anniversary I was back to 153, then the next month 166 and then next month 172 after hitting a high again of 174! UGH!!! Talk about scary.  The weight seemed to just jump up, 3lbs overnight sometimes. I felt like I was just going to watch my weight keep climbing.

It didn't seem, at first, that I had been doing anything differently than I had before when I was losing weight. BUT, I had to face some hard facts. I was eating too many carbs, too much sugar (my gas was horrendous and my poop in pudding puffs), and too much, overall. As my boyfriend said so accurately, "it's not any one thing, it's all of them together".  I had started doing a lot of grazing around the holidays and continued. I noticed I was eating when I wasn't hungry. January and February were difficult months and I got in the habit of mindless eating for comfort again. OHHH, and I also started into menopause sometime in late January or February - an additional bummer that tends to slow down metabolism, so I'm told.

I also had not been to the gym in AGES. I know that, for me, exercise will be key in being able to maintain my weight loss. My brother and sister who exercise in my family are the only ones that have been able to maintain a healthy  weight. My other brother and sister struggle with 30lbs...nothing like I was before surgery, but I know the genetics are against me, even with the DS.

The free ride is over. I know, it's not really been a free ride, but as others have stated, the DS is super forgiving of bad food choices, and eventually it will catch up with you, as it has with me. UNFORTUNATELY, I am not one that will have to battle being too thin!

Ayway, I also realize that there is usually some sort of bounceback from a lowest weight, but I sure was not expecting it when I hadn't even quite hit my goal weight - I was 3 pounds at my lowest from my dream goal of 149lbs. Any lower than that will be pretty tough without more plastics. 

Okay, so, all these facts were staring me in the face, plus 20 more pounds than I'm comfortable with. I went to the gym last week, tried to cut out most all sugar - and the weight has responded. It's not perfect yet, but it's a little better. In checking out fitday, I was averaging around 1900-2400 calories at around a year out and surprisingly, I'm still fairly close to that. 

I'm bouncing 169-171 right now. I hope to get to 166 by June 10th, 162 by July 10th, and so on - maybe 4-6 pounds to lose a month. It will take some work, though, and resolve to get out of my comforting relationship with food and get back to eating only when I'm hungry.  I'm determined, though. I felt great in the 150s.  I can't fit my size 6 jeans (LOL, it just seems so wrong to even say size 6, I still can't get my mind around that, though they are really closer to 8s I'm sure!) and I just don't feel as good right now. 

I'm back on fitday. I think it is a good system for keeping accountable. I did have 2 chocolates yesterday, but that wasn't bad comparatively! I am going to practice mindful eating. If I choose something, I will know exactly where it's going to put me on my life goals.

Saturday: 

	Champion Whey Chocolate Stack 1 serving = 32g 1 scoop		serving	195	3	6	35
	Premier Nutrition Protein - Yogurt Peanut Crunch Bar		serving	290	9	23	30
	Jack in the Box Chicken Sandwich 1/2 bun w/Swiss		serving	384	24	25	17
	Wendy's Crispy Chicken Nuggets		serving	220	14	13	11
	Salty snacks, corn or cornmeal base, tortilla chips		cup, NFS cup, crushed single serving bag chips Quantity not specified	98	5	12	1
	Cheese, natural, Cheddar or American type		cup, NFS cup, diced cup, melted cup, shredded cubic inch slice (1 oz) Quantity not specified	228	19	1	14
	Burrito with rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomato and guacamole, meatless		Taco Bell 7 Layer Burrito Quantity not specified	343	16	37	14
	power crunch bar french vanilla		serving	180	9	9	14
	Chocolate, white		piece Quantity not specified	54	3	6	1
Totals				1992	102	132	136

totals are calories, fat grams, carbs, and protein

I've never been that great with salads and veggies, but I have tried to start eating a few more greens, too, just didn't happen yesterday.

Thanks for listening/reading!

Jill - revision from band to DS 3/10/05 www.picturetrail.com/kilaani
Belt Lipectomy with Thigh Lipo 7/11/07 - Dr. Aly, Iowa City Plastic Surgery

I had great fun - met  Loyce, Sandy, Liz (post-ops) and Amanda (pre-op) today! 

They are all great ladies - and Liz is awesome with a camera. I can't wait to get my new avatar from her since my other picture is so old! 

I was sad I didn't get to stay for dinner with them, but it was fun to meet for an hour, at least.

152.8

This is the third try for a post and OH or my computer keeps messing with me and the post is gone! Sooooo annoying! 

Anyways....

I love the DS! I'm so pleased to be almost 3 years out and have the DS still working for me. 

I've lost 288lbs and have 3lbs to go to my goal. My original goal was 165 pounds and I've passed that. My dream goal was 149 and I'm almost there. My ultimate dream goal is 140lbs because that would be a bmi of 23.3 and with a loss total of 300lbs. Would it be reasonable? I don't know. I do believe that I have at least 10lbs skin left, so if I can get plastics done on the rest of me, that'd probably take me there. 

I know I still will always have the scars and vestiges of being heavy. My legs look like I'm 80 years old and my calves are still huge. I have major varicose veins and spider veins all over. 

I have gone from a shoe size 9 back down to a 7 1/2 in two pairs I bought recently. That was my original shoe size before I got heavy in high school.  I'm pretty excited about that, though I'm sure I'll mostly stay in a size 8. 

I have gone from a size 7x to a size 8 in most things. I can wear a size 8 tailored shirt and 6 in other shirts. I'm almost always wearing a size small in tops. I wear about a size 8 in pants now - or at least I'm getting close - I can still fit the 10s but a lot of them are getting baggy, depending on the brand. In one pair of jeans I wear a size 6 petite and that's soooo cool! 

I am trying hard (though I need to keep trying harder!) on getting back to a routine with vitamins. I don't know why it became such a struggle - I don't mind and have never minded taking pills, but for some reason I really got a mind block about taking the time. Whenever I would think of it, my pills weren't handy or something to drink wasn't handy and I'd get busy and forget about it again. 

I know this was NOT how I went into having surgery. I have been around some rny folks who turned into gray ghosts due to lack of protein and vitamin supplementation. Fortunately, I've bee pretty good about my protein all along - I drink 1-2 shakes a day and I am trying to get myself to 3 shakes a day - at least they also have some vitamins in them, too. 

Anyway, I've been around Vitalady for years and years now - since 1998, and I know the whole story about how important vitamins are! I was very faithful the first year after surgery, but somehow, in the 2nd year and into this year, it's been a struggle. Part of it was when I moved and started teaching that I got so focused on that, that it was just easy to forget, and part of it, I don't know. In any case, I know that around 3 years out is when many post ops start to have a lot of trouble if they haven't stayed up on it, so it is with a bit of fear that I go to get my 3 year labs next month. I pray that I've not done too much damage with my slacker attitude and I know I have to make it first priority to get into a habit - just like going to the bathroom in the morning, brushing my teeth, and making my protein shake before I go to work. 

I'm so happy with the DS, I know I couldn't have gotten here any other way. I want to start posting a bit more again, as I'm able. It helps to come around every once in a while. I also recommend the duodenalswitch yahoo groups  - I get the postings every day by e-mail so I can keep on top of what's going on. I also like the grad-ossg group, but I can't get that many e-mails so I have been no -mail for a while. 

On a personal side, things are still going well with VW. I sometimes wonder if he really desires me, or if we might be better as friends, but then I think that it may be just because I have no experience in this that I've built up the idea of romance to be bigger than it really is. Maybe everyday life is just that. I know I would rather have a best friend that is loyal and true and a great companion, but every once in a while, I wonder is it enough? I find him attractive and I think he finds me attractive, too, but, he's just not ultra expressive about the passionate things - but part of that is just his personality, too. He's more introverted than I am, although, actually, he says I'm not very good about expressing how I feel - we have to keep working at it. Part of it is all those years I stuffed my feelings with food - I don't want to make waves or confront - it's so strange! I'm a very open expressive person in many ways, but yet, it is hard to talk about how I feel - fears of rejection go deep, I guess. 

Anyway, it's going good - it's all part of the process of learning each other. I enjoy his company so much and it feels so good to have someone to tell things to and just be able to listen.

I've been pretty busy the past few months. 

Things have been going great with VW - I couldn't be more pleased. He truly doesn't mind my skin issues, he's proud of where I've come from and is such a good man, and even better, he has a great sense of humor. 

Today was my 34th anniversary. I can see that in November I did get down to 159, but in December the weight bounced up so that my official weight in December was 160. Fortunately, this month, and as of today, I hit my very lowest weight of 158.2 :) 

That means 282lbs gone since my DS 34 months ago. 

Here's the old familiar weight loss history update!
Weight Loss History:

2005
440 high weight 3/7/05
435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 –45!!
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21!!
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 –11 Skied!
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8

2006
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9 Skied!
11 month Feb 10 274 – 9
12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!)   Skied!
13 month Apr 10 259 – 0
14 month May 10 250 – 9 –190lbs 65% EWL  Skied!
15 month June 10 248 – 2
16 month July 10 232- 16 (-208lbs)
17 month Aug 10 230– 2 (-210lbs)
18 month Sept 10 228 – 2 (-212lbs in 18 months)
19 month Oct 10 211 – 16!! (-229lbs)
20 month Nov 10 214  +3 (-226lbs)
21 month Dec 10 202 – 8 (-238lbs)

2007
22 month Jan 10 214 + 12 (-226lbs) (Lots of fluid retention for some reason!)
23 month Feb 10 195 - 19 (-245lbs)(84% EWL, 32.4 BMI)
24 month Mar 10 188 – 7  (-252lbs in 24 months)
25 month Apr 10 184 – 4  (-256lbs) 30.6 BMI
26 month May 12 184 - 0  (-256lbs)
27 month Jun 10 190 +6  (-250lbs)
28 month July 10 177 -13 (-263lbs) 29.5 BMI (Overweight!!!)
PLASTICS July 11, 2007 Belt Lipectomy with Thigh Lipo! (177 day of surgery,20lbs taken off of skin and fat)
29 month Aug 10 172 –7 (-268lbs) (Still major swelling!)
30 month Sep 10 168 –4 (-272lbs) (Still fluid retention) BMI 28.0
31 month Oct 10 165 –3 (-275lbs)
32 month Nov 10 162 –3 (-278lbs) BMI 27.0
33 month Dec 10 160 –2 (-280lbs)
2008
34 month Jan 10 158 –2 (-282lbs) BMI 26.3

PROJECTED:
35 month Feb 10 156 –2 (-284lbs)
36 month Mar 10 154 –2 (-286lbs)
37 month Apr 10 152 -2 (-288lbs)
38 month May 10 152 -0 (-288lbs)
39 month Jun 10 150 -2 (-290lbs)

PLASTICS - 2nd round June 2008 Upper Body Lift, BL, arms, with Thigh Lipo & TT Revision (hopefully!)
Last round PLASTICS June 2009 - thighs.

In 34 months with the DS, I have had 3 months with a gain, 2 months with no loss and 29 months with some sort of loss. I love the DS!

159.2

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm off to Seattle today and it should be cool seeing people I haven't seen since last winter. 

I'm doing great, VW is awesome, I've updated pictures on picturetrail and I'm pretty happy overall. 

Got down to 159, went back up and now I'm back at 159 again. I'm hoping to keep on towards 149 but I'm not worried - I still have a few more pounds of skin to go, I'm sure.  I love my DS!

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and for that I'm thankful!

Have to leave for work in 20 minutes (and still need to shower!) so this will be brief. I'm attached to the wound vac still - it's been 3 weeks. My insurance won't pay so I'll be on my own for that. The secondary insurance won't pay, either. My swelling the past few weeks (with my period) has been awful, I actually hit 185 less than a week ago. Today the fluid retention is mostly gone and I hit 268, my lowest weight. BMI 28.0. If the wound could get healed up, I'd be raring to go on exercising, but it's still slowing me down. 

Here's my history for those of you who haven't seen it. I like to include it so you can get an idea of the reality - it's not just down  down down. 

Weight Loss History:

2005
440 high weight 3/7/05
435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 –45!!
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21!!
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 –11 Skied!
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8

2006
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9 Skied!
11 month Feb 10 274 – 9
12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!)   Skied!
13 month Apr 10 259 – 0
14 month May 10 250 – 9 –190lbs 65% EWL  Skied!
15 month June 10 248 – 2
16 month July 10 232- 16 (-208lbs)
17 month Aug 10 230– 2 (-210lbs)
18 month Sept 10 228 – 2 (-212lbs in 18 months)
19 month Oct 10 211 – 16!! (-229lbs)
20 month Nov 10 214  +3 (-226lbs)
21 month Dec 10 202 – 8 (-238lbs)

2007
22 month Jan 10 214 + 12 (-226lbs) (Lots of fluid retention for some reason!)
23 month Feb 10 195 - 19 (-245lbs)(84% EWL, 32.4 BMI)
24 month Mar 10 188 – 7  (-252lbs in 24 months)
25 month Apr 10 184 – 4  (-256lbs) 30.6 BMI
26 month May 12 184 - 0  (-256lbs)
27 month Jun 10 190 +6  (-250lbs)
28 month July 10 177 -13 (-263lbs) 29.5 BMI (Overweight!!!)
PLASTICS July 11, 2007 Belt Lipectomy with Thigh Lipo! (177 day of surgery,20lbs taken off of skin and fat)
29 month Aug 10 172 –7 (-268lbs) (Still major swelling!)
30 month Sep 10 168 –4 (-272lbs) (Still fluid retention) BMI 28.0

PROJECTED:
31 month Oct 10 165 –3 (-275lbs)
32 month Nov 10 160 –5 (-280lbs)
33 month Dec 10 155 –5 (-285lbs)
PLASTICS? December 21, 2007? Upper Body Lift, BL, arms, with Thigh Lipo & TT Revision!

2008
34 month Jan 10 155 –0 (-285lbs)
35 month Feb 10 152 –3 (-288lbs)
36 month Mar 10 149 –3 (-291lbs) GOAL in 3 Years! BMI 24.9 100% EWL lost

Last round PLASTICS June 2008 - thighs.

In 30 months with the DS, I have had 3 months with a gain, 3 months with no loss and the other 24 months have reflected a loss. I love the DS!

Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/168/149
-272lbs lost, 19lbs to go to my dream goal.
www/.picturetrail.com

Today I went to school to get my classroom keys and saw folks for the first time after my belt lipectomy - last saw them June 8. 

They were blown away by my results - everyone commented - they knew I was having surgery, but I'm pretty sure the comments were all genuine!

One gal (who usually isn't that friendly to me) said "we'll have to start calling you Slim" or something to that effect. 

It was pretty amazing, but also pretty humbling - as I am so thankful for this chance to appear more normal. I don't feel like the fat girl anymore. I was talking to my friend VW, and he mentioned that, about feeling humble, and I agreed - it's been a miracle to get this far. I really am grateful, complications and all, and even with less than perfect results and still being pretty swollen. I just pray I'll be able to continue with stage 2 UBL/revision of bikini line & vertical cut/lipo of thighs  in December, and be finally done with it next June with stage 3 - the thighs. 

Also on the bright side today was that I reached a new low - 170lbs. Maybe the swelling is starting to go down just a little, although the one hip spot is sure draining just as much!

Jill 
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani
Belt Lipectomy with Thigh Lipo 7/11/07 - Dr. Aly, Iowa City Plastic Surgery

After a ginormous food day yesterday - including lunch at the buffet at Green Valley Ranch with my mom, and some (yes, more than one!) Krispy Kreme original glazed, I dropped 2 pounds and now weigh 170lbs! 

Wow!

440-172!  BMI 28.6 !!!  Happy surgiversary to me!  My weight loss is 92% EWL from my ideal goal of 149 pounds.

That's my lowest weight since, oh, 1982. 

Long post ahead:

There've been lots of WOWs since having my belt lipectomy. I'm still recovering and as some of you know will be having a wound vac for the one spot that's being pretty stubborn about healing. Mostly, the spots are pretty closed and I'm starting to feel a bit more energy. I think I'll be ready for work on the 22nd and to see the kids on the 27th, at least I pray I will! 

I feel so much better. Even looking at myself naked now, I don't shudder like I did. Yeah, I have a big ole scar all the way around, and my breasts look worse than Granny's, but, I know I'll be fixing that (somehow, finances permitting!) in December so I can deal with that and same with the arms. I'm super excited to get my arms done because I know what a fantastic job Dr. Aly does on arms and he said mine should look great! My thighs aren't even bothering me as much as they did because I know there's an end in sight (June 2008, God willing and the creek don't rise!). I think that's the biggest feeling - relief..... that actually there is an end in sight and then I can just go on with living. Maybe that's naivete because I do still have to remain in CONSTANT VIGILANCE with protein, labs, and such.... but... yeah, I can get focused on that and exercise and life rather than continuously thinking about the FAT that has been with me nearly since forever! 

I've met a nice man whom I'll call VW, and we've been spending a lot of time together. It's interesting, though, neither of us are in the LaLa phase, we don't know if this will ever develop past friendship. I don't really feel all sparkly inside about him, but, who knows it could happen eventually. He's super supportive of all the stuff about the DS (his exwife 2 had a GB), and my PS stuff. He really "gets" me in a lot of ways and is quite insightful on some things. We're alot alike, strangely, and though we've gone down completely different roads, VW and I really have a lot of the same perspectives. It may just mean we're supposed to support and be friends to each other, and Lord knows I've missed having a guy friend, so this is feeling good any way you look at it. He called me every night while I was in Iowa City, just to see how I was doing - pretty sweet of him. 

Anyway, that's a bit of what's happening in my life right now. I hope we can make a February Vegas DS mini-conference come together - at least a DS party weekend. :) I'd love to see all of you crazy gals (and guys!) and be able to enjoy life with ya! 

And as a regular addition, here's my weight loss chart since there are so many newbies around. It really shows you that the journey is not just down down down like those weight loss calculators would have you think. If you buy into those, when the first stall or plateau comes, you'll be awfully disappointed and think the DS is going to fail. Well, it's just not true.  I even had months where I gained. Out of 29 months, I gained during three of them. For me, generally, the gain was because of some water retention issues. I still have some swelling of my ankles and such, can't quite figure out why, but lasix helps when it happens. And.. usually, the month after a gain month, the loss was a bit higher to make up for it, I guess. 

I'm sorry I haven't updated my picturetrail in a few months. I haven't had the chance to really have folks take some updates of me since I've been home and recovering. 

Hugs and quiches to everyone that's been so supportive of me along this journey!


2005
440 high weight 3/7/05
435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 –45!!
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21!!
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 –11 Skied!
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8
2006
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9 Skied!
11 month Feb 10 274 – 9
12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!)   Skied!
13 month Apr 10 259 – 0 L
14 month May 10 250 – 9 –190lbs 65% EWL  Skied!
15 month June 10 248 – 2
16 month July 10 232- 16 (-208lbs)
17 month Aug 10 230– 2 (-210lbs)
18 month Sept 10 228 – 2 (-212lbs in 18 months)
19 month Oct 10 211 – 16!! (-229lbs)
20 month Nov 10 214  +3 (-226lbs)
21 month Dec 10 202 – 8 (-238lbs)
2007
22 month Jan 10 214 + 12 (-226lbs) (Lots of fluid retention for some reason!)
23 month Feb 10 195 - 19 (-245lbs)(84% EWL, 32.4 BMI)
24 month Mar 10 188 – 7  (-252lbs in 24 months)
25 month Apr 10 184 – 4  (-256lbs) 30.6 BMI
26 month May 12 184 - 0  (-256lbs)
27 month Jun 10 190 +6  (-250lbs)
28 month July 10 177 -13 (-263lbs) 29.5 BMI (Overweight!!!)
PLASTICS July 11, 2007 Belt Lipectomy with Thigh Lipo! (177 day of surgery,20lbs taken off of skin and fat - who knows when that'll show up on the scale!?)
29 month Aug 10 172 –5 (-268lbs) (Still major swelling!) 28.6 BMI

PROJECTED:
30 month Sep 10 168 –4 (-272lbs)
31 month Oct 10 165 –3 (-275lbs)
32 month Nov 10 160 –5 (-280lbs)
33 month Dec 10 155 –5 (-285lbs)
PLASTICS December 21, 2007 Upper Body Lift with Thigh Lipo & TT Revision! (hopefully lose 5lbs!)
34 month Jan 10 155 –0 (-285lbs)
35 month Feb 10 152 –3 (-288lbs)
36 month Mar 10 149 –3 (-291lbs) GOAL in 3 Years! BMI 24.9 100% EWL lost

Jill 
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani
Belt Lipectomy with Thigh Lipo 7/11/07 - Drs. Aly and Cram, Iowa City Plastic Surgery

I'm still hopeful, and will be doing my 29 month update later on this morning after an official weigh, which of course doesn't come until after the morning bathroom ritual - although it might be early afternoon since I stayed up so late last night! 

But, the fun thing I noticed when looking at my projected goals and how much I have left to lose was how the BMI goes down. 

For me, my ultimate goal was always 24.8 BMI - so that I could be considered normal. Right now, I believe I'm still around 29. Here's the lowdown, for me at 5'5": 

173 = BMI 28.8
167 = BMI 27.8
161 = BMI 26.8
155 = BMI 25.8
149 = BMI 24.8

So, basically, it's every 6 pounds my BMI will go down a point. Cool, huh? It's been so mindblowing to even get into the "Overweight" category - I am over the moon excited about possibly getting to normal someday. And hey, if I don't, I'm starting to look pretty good for overweight, anyway! ;)

 

179.8

I'm home! Got home 2 nights ago and am I glad to be here! 

I pulled my last drain this morning which is my biggest news - I'm so glad to be done with it. I only drained about 30cc yesterday which was well below what Dr. Aly said was enough to get rid of the drain, yay!  He also had said that at a certain point, the benefit is decreased for having the drain in because the body doesn't like foreign things in there. 

I still have 3 open spots on me - actually, now there's been a 4th acting up a little, right below my belly button. Dr. Aly poked around in it with some black looking stuff the other day and since then it's been draining more. My belly button seems to be slowing down which is good, and Dr. Aly said my backside triangle is healing. 

I had a couple of bad days this week. Monday was super disappointing because it turns out I wouldn't be able to be in the FDA study trial of restlyne after all. Dr. Aly isn't happy with the reactions of a few of his patients, so he doesn't want to do any more with it right now. That was a blow for me, because I was going to use that $4k or so in compensation to pay for my upper body lift in December. Oh well, I'll find the money somehow! 

I also was a little bummed on Tuesday because I've noticed some of the swelling going down (which you'd think was a good thing) but with the swelling down, my thigh - especially the left- has started dimpling again, so it looks like I'll have a bit of a sag there on the backside of my thigh. I had so loved how smooth my thighs looked right after surgery. But...... it's sooooo much better than it was, and there's only so much we could do!  In any case, it'll be months before we know what it'll look like and in December we'll be doing more thigh lipoing (ugh, it hurts!) again. 

Wednesday was a better meeting with Dr. Aly, too. He reminded me of our pep talks about keeping my faith and spirits up - that it's a long fight after plastic surgery and some days will be hard, but I have to do my best or it hinders in healing!  I believe that. He wanted me to make sure and take my before/after pics and look at them often so that when I'm discouraged I can keep remembering where I've come from. I definitely have no problem with that! The afters, especially of my backside, are so amazingly  improved! The front, not quite as much-though it is a whole lot better for sure, and the side - well, that's probably my least favorite view now. But.. Dr. Aly said that's still a lot of swelling. I probably still have at least 10 pounds of swelling on me. 

Speaking of pounds...I'm at 179 today on my scale. I think I hit 177 before surgery, but was 181 when I got home. It sounds like, then, that my scale is pretty synced with Dr. Aly's. 

Yesterday was  lots of fun. I went over to my moms and I think she was pretty shocked in a good way about my results. She had a few tops for me and then it turned into a  closet shopping expedition -and that's always fun because she has Chicos stuff, mostly!  I also tried on an evening gown and WOW... it looked so awesome! I was blown away - it even made my stomach look good. It was all curves - really delish! I wish I had somewhere to wear it. The 14 was just right - a little loose on top but perfect in the hips. 

If I never get below a 12, I think I can live with that. A size 10 would be ideal, but maybe not super realistic - perhaps after I get my thigh work done, who knows. On top, I'm still around a 8/10 - probably a 10. :)  Bought a pair of 14 pants yesterday and they are a little loose in the waist, but they didn't have a 12 and I need something now and they were only $3.98...so I said what the heck. I also found a size medium sweatshirt for $1.98. 

I have 3 bags of clothes to drop by the Safe Nest donation box today. It feels so good to clear out the closet. I still haven't gone through all of it, but for the most part, the plus size stuff is all gone. I have 2 skirts that are big on me, but still wearable and I like them, so I'm keeping them for now. I have sooooo many shirts, though, thanks to my mom! :)  All my plus size shirts are gone except for a few extra large t-shirts that I still have. 

Anyway, that's all the news for now. My friend VW is coming over today (he drives a Jetta and has a Bug, so that's his name here) and we'll see - I think I'm going to make a caesar salad and something, not sure what, to eat! Maybe we'll watch a movie here, or go and see Rataitoulle tonight or tomorrow with his son. Nice guy and we've talked about every night since I went to Iowa. 

Post Date: 7/25/07 4:57 pm
I think I'm doing pretty good. Most of my incisions are healing well - there are 3 spots that have the yellowish stuff that shows it separated - right above my butt - it's not huge, but, still.... another spot is from the right of my bikini line as it goes up towards my hip, and the third is inside my belly button. I guess keeping it covered is the best policy for the fastest healing. 

I'm wearing my compression garments all the time still and my ted thigh stockings.  Some of the worst pain, still, is right at the inside of my knees where they did a lot of lipo - for some reason, that spot gathers fluids like nowhere else, and it was that way before surgery, too. It's firm with all the fluids in it. I know I'm still retaining a lot of swelling there. 

I'm pleased with the way things are going for the most part - already have a game plan for the next surgery and revisions of the Belt Lipectomy bikini line scar - also, I think he'll be giving me a vertical cut in order to get rid of an ugly scar I had before. 

I have another week here in Iowa City. The time has gone MUCH faster than I expected. I hope I'll be able to get my last drain out by next Wednesday, but it's still putting out A LOT of fluid, so who knows (I had 3 drains originally). 

The coolest bit has been fitting in a size 10 skirt already and I was able to get size 12 cropped pants from the Gap zipped. Forgive me if I already posted about this as I have been fuzzy about to whom I've posted what. 

Jill 
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani
Belt Lipectomy 7/11/07 with Drs. Aly and Cram, Iowa City Plastic Surgery

Post Date: 7/21/07 8:39 pm
Last Edit: 7/22/07 11:50 am
Today - I overdid. I will probably pay for the next few days but it was really pretty incredible. 

PattyL and Dan and I drove out to the Tangers Outlet Mall which is about 25 miles from Iowa City/Coralville.  Patty insisted I spend some time just shopping - at my pace - and Dan was a jewel about being along for the ride. Patty got a few things, too, at least. :)

I bought a black dress at the gap which is awesome (a junior style large)- it looks like this but it is slightly longer and a little different on the collar - other than that, it's the same: 

I also found a shirt that is a super cool updated style - but I can't find a picture. 

I tried on a pair of these Gap pants in a 12 and they fit! Barely, but they fit..... 

they were too tight in the knees, though. 

I found another shirt at the Dress Barn that is so sexy as all get out - it's also a Petite Small! It only was $9 on sale!

All that showed me that my bras were sadly not helping the sisters at all, so I spent the last two hours of the afternoon getting fitted for bras at the Bali's store.  I'm now a 34DD in a Bali, here's the one I got in both black and white: . Just think... 29 months ago I was a 54DDD.  I think this is the one Playtex Secrets bra that  I bought in a 36D - I got it in cream.  They still aren't ultra sexy bras, but... better than the old playtex 18 hours I used to have to wear, that's for sure!!!!!!!
 

I fit a pair of size 12 pants at the Gap. I fit a size 12 petite straight skirt at the Dress Barn. I comfortably fit (which means they'd be too big in a few weeks) a pair of cargo type pants from the Gap, too. AMAZING!!! ALL JUST AMAZING.  29 months ago I was in a 7X or size 40.

I remember I said to Patty - is it even possible to zip up this (size 12) skirt for me? And she just slid the zipper right up - WOW.  It looks like I may end up a size 10 eventually - who knows after more lipo and thigh work.

I spent way too much time on my feet - probably 5 hours all in all. I was pretty hunched over by the time we were going home, but my meds and a half hour later, I was ready to head back out to dinner with them to the Outback - yum! 

They were sooooo awesome - I've not felt so cared for and pampered in ages!  I'm definitely going to be taking it easy tomorrow as they'll be gone before I get up in the morning. 

Jill 
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani
LBL 7/11/07 with Drs. Aly and Cram, Iowa City Plastic Surgery

A wow moment for me, my friends.

Tonight, Patty L and her husband Dan (who had the DS with Dr. B.) came to visit me - they drove 8 hours from Minnesota!!!!!!

We went out at around midnight so that I could get the Harry Potter book, and while we were shopping, I saw a skirt that looked really cute. Patty urged me to try it on. It was a size 12.

I put it on and it looks great!!!! It actually will be big once the swelling goes down, but... wow.... a size 12 skirt - on me! It went great over my hips and is a very flattering style. I bought a size 8/10 t-shirt to go with it - the t-shirt was roomy - I like the 8 because it fits better in the sleeves.

Whoo hoo!  I also hit my lowest weight so far - 171lbs. As it stands - I was 177 the day of surgery and they removed 14lbs skin from me, and 6lbs lipo (from my thighs). Potentially, that could bring me to 157lbs. Realistically, though, it'll be a while before I see that as I'm pretty swollen and retaining fluid like crazy after surgery.

Just thought I'd share.
Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05 Dr. Baltasar
440/435/171/165
hw/sw/cw/gw
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani

LBL 7/11/07 Drs. Aly & Cram, Iowa City Plastic Surgery http://www.icplasticsurgery.com/
UBL pending 12/21/07

Post Date: 7/19/07 11:12 pm
I went in today and saw the nurse Claudette. She said my belly button was completely normal, as is the spot on the middle of my back which is a bit moist. That's a common spot, evidentally, for it to take a bit longer to heal since there's always so much pressure there. 

They are all very pleased with my recovery so far and that I've been walking a good bit and keeping up and around. 

Really, all in all, the recovery from the belt lipectomy has been MUCH better than I expected. I've gotten rid of one drain, but the other two won't likely be for a while yet. I'm now at one week 2 days out from surgery. 

I'm sooooo happy with the way my rear end looks and the hourglass shape that I'm turning out to be -  it's so cool! And the rest... well, the things we'll have to fix are doable and it's great we already have a game plan.

As I've said previously, going from 440 to where I am now is a heckuva lot of weight andthe fact that I had several scars in nasty spots didn't help. 

14 pounds skin gone from the belt lipectomy + 6lbs lipo off my legs = happy Jill! 

Jill 
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani
LBL 7/11/07 with Drs. Aly and Cram, Iowa City Plastic Surgery

I won't take long to post because I need to get back to my room and rest - but today I'm down to 171 pounds. This is my lowest. 



How awesome is that!!!!?????

I'm a week and a day out from my belt lipectomy and really have been surprised how well my pain has been managed and how good I feel. A+ score for Dr. Aly and Dr. Cram that's for sure. 

Had a follow up appointment with them today because I had been worried about my belly button oozing a little - Claudette told me this is normal. 

Fantastico! :) I also found out I'm eligible for the Restlyn study they are doing - more about that later. Whoo hoo! 

Post Date: 7/17/07 5:26 am
Hopper - I'm excited to see that you are a VBG to DS revision wanna be. My best advice to you is to research your surgeon and then research some more. Revisions to DS can be any number of animals and you want the best one. 

Some will do a complete "take down" of your initial surgery .. basically trying to put everything back to the way it was, then do the DS. This is the optimal way of handling things. This means you're more likely to incur the benefits of the full DS. Some other docs basically leave the pouch or whatever it looks like and then just add the DS switch part - to me, this is not so good. You still can have many of the original problem issues that way. 

DS revision surgeons who are expert are a handful. Dr. Rabkins, Dr. Husted, Dr. Baltasar, Dr. Gagner - they are all ones who I know have been successful doing full takedowns and redoing the DS. 

There are folks out there in the DS revisions who are looking at a DS to DS revision because they did not have the best stomach size - they may have been able to out eat the surgery. All the malabsorption in the world might not help if you started with a 6 or 8 oz stomach and it stretches to 12-16 oz eventually. I recommend looking at what sort of stomach size does the surgeon do on top of the whole common channel thing. Additionally - how the surgeon decides on which method to do the alimentary and bilio limb and the common channel certainly can make a difference. I've heard of folks with 150 cm common channel who aren't able to lose enough because they just aren't malabsorbing enough. Just having a short common channel, though, isn't an instant guarantee, either. Mine is 65cm and I definitely wasn't one of the super speedy losers although it has been steady and I have continued losing even to almost 3 years out. 

It seems to me a lot of the folks who might have problems really believed a lot of the hype that the DS becomes a free pass to thinness, that they can eat whatever they want and still lose weight. I know, I know, it has been true for many, but it sure isn't true for all. That's why sticking to low carb and low sugar is the best way to find out which camp you may fall into. If people get hooked on too much food and too much of the wrong kinds too early and they don't happen to be blessed with the ability to do that "eat anything" thing, they are in for an unhappy surprise with results. 

So.... bottom line: some of it may be choices, some of it may be surgeons' choice, some of it may be our body's inflexibility. It's really hard to know -because I know there are folks out there who do all the right things and seem to have all the right components in place and they still don't get to where they want to be. :( 

I forgot to mention in my original post that they took 14 pounds of skin from my belt lipectomy. I found out today that they took an additional 6 pounds of fat from the lipo of my thighs, so go figure - 3 pounds of fat off each thigh and that's without any skin gone yet!  I feel great about losing that 20 pounds of skin and lipo fat.

I will also have another bunch of lipo done in December, so hopefully that'll take it down even further. 

I was 177 the day of surgery so minus the 20 pounds of skin/lipo  ... that should bring me to 157, but, lol, when I weighed the other day on a different scale, it said 183lbs. I completely believe that I could easily have 26lbs of fluids and swelling on me! 

There already is a difference in trying on pants, so that's kind of freaky! (In a good way!) 

It was so cool washing in the shower the first time and reaching down to soap under the panni and remembering that "Oh! It's not there anymore!"

 I'm definitely full of gratitude to the Lord for bringing me through this with flying colors! I'm determined to be an easy heal! 

Time to rest again. 

Post Date: 7/16/07 12:12 am

I'm staying for either 4 weeks after surgery which is August 8th, or I have another super cheap ticket I found that would let me go home a week earlier on August 1st which is what I'm shooting for. 

I'm super happy with the way my silhouette looks straight on - I can see already that I have a bit of the hourglass shape again- I'm going in at the waist so that is cool. The other thing I'm very delighted with is looking straight on (in a mirror) at my backside - they did a fantastic job in pulling my butt up and my saddlebags look completely gone. I also really like how symetrical my incisions look on my backside and I think they will eventually be very nice. 

I'm not happy with the frontside when looking at my old horizontal scar. I had hoped it would go away, but it was just too high to start with. Because of that, it's now along my waistline, but, that scar has always puckered along the right end of it, so I know that will be the case along my stomach there. I also hung way lower on the left side of my panni and mons, and I still have just a little extra pooch/pucker along there. There was just too much skin. My mons also hangs lower a little on the left side, still. There's only so much pulling they could do and because they had to start higher in trying to deal with my original horizontal scar, they couldn't go as low as they would have liked on my mons bikini line incision which I think leaves a little higher scar. It will still be at a lower than waistline which means I imagine I'll be able to wear some undies that will hide it and won't have to wear hipsters, but it'll be a while before that all settles and I can finally see how it ends. Dr. Aly is not happy with that horizontal scar either, and may do something he never does which is do a revision by making a vertical cut and taking the wedge of the scar out, and then possibly revising the bikini line and maybe taking a wedge along the sides of the mons, too and defatting that area even more.  I'm also a little scary (to me) when I look at myself from the side - I don't have the nice lines I would like -but again, I know a lot of that is swelling and my backside will settle more, additionally with the scarring, too. 

I'm so happy that I went with Dr. Aly. I believe that my results would not have been nearly as good with other surgeons who don't have Dr. Aly and Cram's expertise. They reportedly spent a lot of time on me extra in planning the best way to handle all my issues once they got in. It took them an hour and a half longer than their usual belt lipectomy and Dr. Aly did state that I was one of the most complicated they have done. My skin is also in pretty poor shape, which doesn't help with the elasticity issues. 

All the revision stuff will be easily addressed when I go back for my next surgery - which is hopefully December 21, 2007 for the upper body lift/arms/breast reduction/lift with more legs lipo. 

My final surgery should be June 2008 for my thighplastcy which is going to require some major creativeness on Dr. Aly's part. I may also revise my breasts at that time for an implant if I need it then. 

I LOVE Dr. Aly and Dr. Cram! 

I got some initial pictures on my phone of me in my compression garment, but you can see the basic silhouette and lines. I'll have to figure out how to send them to myself.

Post Date: 7/15/07 6:18 pm
I can't post a long post right now because I need to go back and lay down, but I'm back! I'm at Walden Place, at least. 

My experience was positive with Dr. Aly and I'm so glad I had his expertise. I didn't have the best best best results - but - considering my starting place, it's better than he expected. I have things I'm really happy about and things that are not so much - but we'll see how it goes with time.  A lot of that is swelling and we won't be able to tell how the scars flatten out until they heal. 

Jill 
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani
LBL 7/11/07 with Drs. Aly and Cram, Iowa City Plastic Surgery

Post Date: 7/8/07 10:27 pm
This is my last post this side of PS. Prayers and chicken swinging very much appreciated for a painless, swellingless and easy surgery and recovery and for the best possible results.

Thank you, everyone, for all the great support during this loooooong journey. Tuesday will be my 28th month anniversary - and I've lost 263lbs during that time.  It's pretty cool that I'm going under the knife the day after that.

Here's the handy dandy weight loss chart once again for all the noobs :) 

2005
440 high weight 3/7/05
435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 –45!!
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21!!
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 –11 Skied!
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8
2006
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9 Skied!
11 month Feb 10 274 – 9
12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!)   Skied!
13 month Apr 10 259 – 0 L
14 month May 10 250 – 9 skied! –190lbs 65% EWL
15 month June 10 248 – 2
16 month July 10 232- 16 (-208lbs)
17 month Aug 10 230– 2 (-210lbs)
18 month Sept 10 228 – 2 (-212lbs in 18 months)
19 month Oct 10 211 – 16!! (-229lbs)
20 month Nov 10 214  +3 (-226lbs) L
21 month Dec 10 202 – 8 (-238lbs)
2007
22 month Jan 10 214 + 12 (-2261lbs) L
23 month Feb 10 195 - 19  (-245lbs)(84% EWL, 32.4 BMI)
24 month Mar 10 188 – 7  (-252lbs in 24 months)
25 month Apr 10 184 – 4  (-256lbs) 30.6 BMI
26 month May 12 184 - 0  (-256lbs)
Projected:
27 month Jun 10 190 +6  (-250lbs)
28 month July 10 177 –13 (-263lbs) (29.5 BMI)
PLASTICS July 11, 2007 Lower Body Lift!

29 month Aug 10 157 –20 (283lbs)
30 month Sep 10 157 –0 (283lbs)
31 month Oct 10 156 –1 (284lbs)
32 month Nov 10 155 –1 (285lbs)
33 month Dec 10 155 – 0 (285lbs)
PLASTICS December 21, 2007 Upper Body Lift?
34 month Jan 10 150 –5 (290lbs)
35 month Feb 10 149 –1 (291lbs)
36 month Mar 10 149 –0 (291lbs) GOAL in 3 Years! BMI 24.9 100% EWL lost

My goal on my ticker and on my signature is 165 pounds, however my ultimate goal would be to make 24.9 on my BMI which is 149 pounds. We'll see if it happens. :)

Jill 
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani
LBL 7/11/07 with Drs. Aly and Cram, Iowa City Plastic Surgery

This will likely be my last post before plastics on Wedneday - unless I have some down time which is unlikely. 

I'm not feeling quite ready to leave, but I'm getting things in order. 

I'm not nervous - actually feeling quite peaceful about it. I have great expectations for the results, even though I know those good results could take a long time to manifest after drains and swelling and what have you. I can't wait to look down and not see the huge amount of hanging skin. Okay, so my breasts will still look terrible, but, one thing at a time!

It was so cool to hit 177 yesterday. Today has been weird because I ate before bed (at 4am - long story) and I still haven't had a BM today. That's pretty unusual for me! I hope my body isn't going to get all jacked up with the schedule and flying and all that! 

A friend told me today that narcotics can cause constipation -I haven't had to even think about that C word for so long it's hard to remember. Frankly, there hasn't been much time in my life when I have suffered with constipation, thank God!

Anyway, I think I'll eat breakfast with the Tammy's on Tuesday morning and maybe not eat any more that day - I want everything to be nice and cleaned out for Wednesday morning! Of course, I'll get lots of protein in! Speaking of which, I have to go make a shake and get moving. 

Today, all I've been craving are onion rings, so I stopped by Sonic and got some - they were so good! But I've been terrible with food today - that's all I've eaten! Time for that shake, and then to Frye's. 

Bless y'all
Jill 
from 440 to 177lbs 
from 73.2 bmi to 29.5
from 65% bodyfat to 23%

HAVE to share - as this is just a little too cool. 

I just got on the scale, and now I'm at 177.0 ... 

Lowest I've been since 1983 - I know, you guys are going to get tired of hearing me say that, but I graudated at 180 pounds in 1983, and the lowest weight I think I hit in 1983 was around that as I reached 180 pounds on my birthday in January 1983. I was about 152 pounds in the fall of 1982.... so anything 160 and under is from 1982 back! 

Hopefully after the LBL next Wednesday I'll be able to say I had an additional ____ come off from the skin and fat.  Dr. Aly says "it's not about weight loss" with the PS, but, when pressed said he thought I'd get off about 6 kilos (14 pounds) of skin/fat. I've heard he's very very very conservative about these things, so I'm hoping for 20 pounds and would be really excited if it was double his estimate and I got 28lbs off including lipo or something. 

28lbs would bring me down to ......149 - my GOAL WEIGHT. That, of course, is if I stayed at 177 which doesn't usually happen when I hit my low. I usually hit the low, then bounce up a few pounds the next day, hang around that for a while, then bounce lower again eventually.  Additionally, I've heard a lot about after PS of a ton of swelling and water retention, so hopefully I'm mentally prepared for that and won't freak if the scale doesn't cooperate. Yadda yadda yadda on flying and all that stuff that also usually has me retaining water, too.

In any case, it feels weird to even say that I'm at 177 - so whatever the surgeon is able to take off after that is icing on the cake. I just can't wait to have these rolls of skin gone! 

Jill 
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/177/165
hw/sw/cw/gw
-263lbs, 12lbs to go
73.2 bmi to 29.5 bmi
65% bodyfat to 23% bodyfat
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani
LBL 7/11/07 with Drs. Aly and Cram, Iowa City Plastic Surgery

I'm not sure what's going on with me. A few weeks back I felt pretty stuck and wigged about surgery, but now, I've been going full speed ahead just having a good time.  Warning - post ahead is all over the map!

I finally finished the summer tutoring program yesterday, which was a great experience. I had the five best little girls ever in my class. They are all going to be fourth graders, but are all still very sweet and for the most part, all wanted to learn. We had a summer reading experience on Rome and I learned a lot about Rome that I really hadn't known, too.

I had a great time on the 4th. It was super low key but I kept busy enough which was fun. I went to the gym and then had lunch with my personal trainer, rushed home then made strawberries dipped in chocolate and went over to a friends house. He's someone I've gotten to know a little through one of my small study groups out of my church. We're all singles and have been studying the book "The 10 Commandments of Dating". I actually thought it was a pretty good read and helpful, but not anything new to me. 

Anyway, this fellow is a nice guy and we've had a few comments in common. It seems like we're both thinkers and a bit on the conservative side. I don't believe that we're destined for each other or anything like that, but he's a nice guy and I could see him becoming a good friend.   Since meeting him, come to find out that we grew up within about 5 miles of each other, and our high schools were about 2 miles apart. He was born on the 21st of January and I was born on the 31st (same year). It's been a lot of fun to talk about music, and we have  alot of the same music that we like - as well as Christian music, too.  

We've talked on the phone for hours - he can be a bit slow with getting stories going, but I like listening to talkers, so it's fine. So I was chatting with him and asked him what he was doing for the 4th and he invited me over to his place (he owns but has 4 roomates paying him rent) for doing some chicken on the grill.  I ended up bringing my strawberries, corn on the cob, and potatoes, and one of his roomates grilled - it turned out great. 

He's got a nice place, but a little (okay, a lot) cluttered with all the roomates. Not exactly my style - but funky and fun. We both seem to like the ocean and seashore pics, though. He's got some paintings of lighthouses, too. Of course, in the middle of his living room he's got a pool table. Typical bachelor! 

The next night I let him know about a movie on the lake event at Montelago and he ended up riding with me. We had fun, but the movie was HORRIBLE. Probably one of the worst I've seen that I can remember. Okay, you want to know what it was, huh? Ghost Rider - with Nicolas Cage. The only movie that I can think of that was worse than that was Me, Myself and Irene.  They were terrible on very different levels, though. 

Last night, we talked over an hour then I went off to my other small group. It was fun, it's a good group and we went to Carabbas for dinner afterwards. A good time!

I'll be going to get my hair done today at 12:30, then I'm going to have to take back my BRAND NEW PRINTER and get the bloody thing exchanged. The paper feed won't work correctly so it's useless!  Later on tonight, I"m going to church and hopefully will see the guy and my small group from lastnight - maybe we can all go out to dinner again, or, I even possibly offered my place to come over for a movie or something. We'll see.. that reminds me I'd better get it cleaned!

Tomorow the guy is going to come over and we're (he's!) going to look at my  shocks and see if I really need new ones. That way he can also see where I live - 

Monday morning, I have to get the cat into the vet to get her health certificate so she can fly, then at 11am I'm heading to the airport~!

That's it, all that I have time for - I'll be posting more about my PS experience to come, soon.

Someone posted on a parmesan crusted cheese sandwich and how good it was and it reminded me! I was just at Applebees the other day and I tried their parmesan crusted onion rings and they were so good!

Okay, this completely made me remember something I wanted to post on - food! 

I've found the greatest blog - and she's our kind of woman. When she cooks, none of that fake stuff! She has a regular blog and her cooking blog and she's so funny it makes practically ruin my keyboard when I'm drinking a protein shake. 

The best part of her cooking blog is that she does all the steps - shows all the ingredients in pictures and she is a great photographer. 

Anyway, here's the blog address - tell me if you like it!

http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/

I'm completely hooked. I read her regular blog http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/confessions_of_a_pioneer_/ every day without fail! 

Jill 
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/178/165
hw/sw/cw/gw
-261lbs, 14lbs to go
73.2 bmi to 29.6 bmi
65% bodyfat to 23% bodyfat
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani
LBL 7/11/07 with Drs. Aly and Cram, Iowa City Plastic Surgery

Post Date: 7/7/07 10:30 am
Well, last week was a big one. I exercised three or four days and dropped about 15 pounds, lol. I finally got something done about the water weight that had been plaguing me. 

As of today, I'm at 178.8 pounds - my lowest since 1983.  

Last Friday, I got a pinched nerve or something in my back - a kink in the muscle, maybe, and it's been slowing me down since. I only got to the gym one day this week, which bums me out. Maybe I still could have been doing cardio, but it didn't happen :(  Had 2 massages, though, in trying to get this muscle fixed.

Additionally, been just having a lot of fun PLAYING!  Went out on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so far - and will be tonight, and have another date tomorrow, too! But that all makes sense since I'm trying to shove in all the fun I can before leaving Monday for Iowa City. I'm going to be experiencing a lot of down time starting Wednesday next week, that's for sure! 

Goal for the next few days - 4-6 protein shakes per day...for my protein loading. I've been getting about 3 per day in the past week or so. 

Cardio - at least once before I fly out on Monday. 

Liquids - I've been doing pretty well - it's been wicked hot here in Las Vegas!

Jill 
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/178/165
hw/sw/cw/gw
-261lbs, 14lbs to go
73.2 bmi to 29.6 bmi
65% bodyfat to 23% bodyfat
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani
LBL 7/11/07 with Drs. Aly and Cram, Iowa City Plastic Surgery

Yesterday, I reached my lowest weight since 1983 - 179.8 pounds. That puts me at 29.8 BMI in the category of Overweight. Who'd have thunk I'd be so excited about being overweight, but when you figure I started at Super Super Morbidly Obese.... this is a big deal! 

Additionally, a week from tomorrow I'm heading to Iowa City for my first round of reconstructive surgery. I'm excited about it, but a bit nervous, too. Fortunately, the two Tammys will be there my first day to help me settle in - we're even all arriving at the airport around the same time! 

I got to spend nearly the whole day with TammyIAm from NYC yesterday. She and her husband are absolutely wonderful people! I couldn't believe how much we had in common, too. And..... her work from Dr. Aly looks absolutely marvelous! 

I'm sure I'll be posting more this week about the upcoming surgery - it's getting to be a little of the nervousness time. 

Jill 
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/179/165
hw/sw/cw/gw
-261lbs, 14lbs to go! 
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani

Post Date: 6/17/07 1:43 pm
Awww, you guys, you're making me blush! 

Seriously, I wish I was the poster child, because that would have meant I'd done a better job than I had. 

Over the past 27 months, I have eaten carbs - way too many - and not always done protein first. I haven't gotten enough water or fiber in consistently from the beginning and still don't do enough! I really don't eat enough fruit and vegetables which should help my immune system. There are times when I wasn't diligent about the vitamins. I've tried to work out, but lately I've just gotten lazy again! I'm *far* from the poster child. But.. the thing is, I keep trying.  I know the DS is the best tool I'm ever going to get and I had better use it to my advantage.

I'm sure I slowed my weight loss down with the carb'in out. :( 

It's a little disheartening because I got on the scale today and the scale said 197! How could I be up 7 pounds in less than a week - I have no idea. It doesn't seem like I've been eating that much over - but... then again, I haven't been moving at all this week. Aside from working out last Monday , when I could only do 15 minutes cardio along with my workout, I haven't done any exercise at all. I haven't even been cleaning my house. 

Of course, getting anywhere near 200 again scares the beejeebers out of me.  Here I desparately need to go in the other direction before my LBL. I'm afraid I'm going to screw that up!!!! 

I'm thinking there's probably something going on about my worry for the PS. I'm going alone, which is doubly worrisome. How am I going to manage getting up, getting to the bathroom, all that by myself when folks say the LBL is the hardest recovery!? I know it's possible, because others have done it, and I'll be the first at least 2 days in the hospital, and hopefully they'll keep me an extra day or so, but after that, it can be a bit scary. There is also emergency care at the place I'm staying with on-call panic buttons, but still...... 

I'm just putting out there that I've been feeling SO FAR LESS than the poster child, but thank you guys so much for being there and supporting me! 

Jill

Dang it, I hate it when I impulsively hit a button and it erases my whole post! 

Anyway, as of today, my posts are all transferred over from the old profile to the new and my archives are all in order. 

In looking at my posts over the past few years, I hope the continual post of my weight loss chart and measurements hasn't been TOO boring for folks. These numbers from others along the way really helped me, especially when I was in a plateau or scared that I'd be the only one that the DS wouldn't work on, or that I'd fail my surgery yet again. 

I still need to figure out how to make the new journal prettier and different looking. I'm not that into this blog format, I think it's kinda boring, but I'm sure there's potential to fix it up. 

I'm still hanging right around 190 - it's a bit discouraging that I haven't gotten back down under 190, but I've still been quite the slug. And for goodness sake, let's not even get started about my house! Can you say... or spell (lol) DISASTER. I'm not sure what has been slowing me down so much lately. Perhaps it has been all the stress of changing my plastic surgeon and changing my plans mid stream. 

I am a person that likes to know exactly what's going on and have plans! I guess deep down inside, I'm a bit of a control freak, but it's not surprising given both my personality and my family of origin issues. COA's tend towards trying to control their surroundings since things were so out of control for them as kids. I know, for me at least, it was very true that I didn't know how things would be when I got home so I tried to control all the variables that I could. 

But as far as the gym goes - I really really really need to get to the gym every day or as close to it as I can make it - just to improve my cardio if nothing else. Last Monday when I went to the gym I could only do about 15 minutes on the elliptical before I stopped. Pitiful! 

I'm still sleepy - perhaps I'll post more later. There's a lot rolling around in my head I should probably try to get on "paper".

Well, it's that update again. I've already posted a few times today, but I thought today was tomorrow, so I got all confused!

It's 27 months today and I'm hoping that things will continue on the downward slide, but it's definitely slowed/stalled this month and even backtracked.

I can probably blame a bit of it on a lack of exercise, grazing, too much sugar, and stress, but for whatever the reason, I wasn't able to hold on to the 182, and I'm back to 190. Actually, a few days ago, I'd reached 194, but I'm back down to 190 today.

Considering last month was 184, the month before was 184 and this month is 190, it might be slowing down now, or at least it's going to take a lot more effort than I've been making!

Right now, my focus has become my LBL that I'll be having in 1 month and 2 days. Frankly, it's scarier than my DS. The outcomes of PS can vary sooo much, and I am NOT an easy case, according to any of the surgeons I've talked to. With 250lbs gone, the skin is pretty interesting, and with my horizontal scar where it is, it causes some definite problems with blood supply to the upper abdomen area. I know there are folks that have had PS after a horizontal scar, but for the procedure that Dr. Aly does usually, it doesn't work so well, so my results may not be as awesome as usual. :(
I can only hope and pray that I won't have complications and the results will still be soo much better than I am now. It's rough to think that my thighs may not EVER look decent, but that's the way it sounds. I can really feel for Amy's post about the issues with lymphodema - I have a bit of it myself in my legs and it has not gone away after losing most of the weight.

Part of me thinks that I should wait to lose more weight, but I'm stymied by two issues. Firstly, I can only have surgery done in the summer when school is out, and secondly, my weight loss has slowed so I really don't know how much further down I'll go.

If I'm at 190 right now, and hypothetically might lose as much as 15-20 pounds with the LBL from skin and fat lipo'd.. that'd bring me down to say around 170. Additionally, most folks I hear of lose a few more pounds from the new restriction and after surgery trauma - so perhaps that'd bring me down to 155. That's within spittin' distance of where I want to be!

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear I'll ever be one that can eat unlimitedly with the DS.... my body has always been too damn efficient and I don't appear to be one that is going to go underweight, for sure. I'd just love to get to a size 8 pants - at 5'5" that would be ideal! I'm about an 8/10 in shirts right now - a medium in regular t-shirts but right now I'm still a solid 16/18 in pants. It's hard to say what I'll get to after the LBL - I'll be getting extensive lipoing done of my thighs while I do that, and again when I have my UBL, and then finally someday... I'll get my thighs done. However, it appears I may have to have both scars on the inside and outside of the thighs - there's that much skin above my knees! It's like I have a panni about my knees that hangs down all the way around. :( The thighs may make it difficult for me to get in a small size pant - we'll see! I think I'll drop 2 sizes, at least, which would put me about a 12/14 at least.

Anyways, there's some thoughts about my upcoming journey... and for those of you who haven't seen it, here's my weight loss chart (below) for the journey thus far! My goal is to drop 11 pounds by surgery date, but I'm going to have to kick some major butt to do it!

I am not giving up!

Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/190/165
hw/sw/cw/gw
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani (updating pics tomorrow)

2005
440 high weight 3/7/05
435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 –45!!
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21!!
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 –11 Skied!
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8
2006
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9 Skied!
11 month Feb 10 274 – 9
12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!) Skied!
13 month Apr 10 259 – 0 L
14 month May 10 250 – 9 skied! –190lbs 65% EWL
15 month June 10 248 – 2
16 month July 10 232- 16 (-208lbs)
17 month Aug 10 230– 2 (-210lbs)
18 month Sept 10 228 – 2 (-212lbs in 18 months)
19 month Oct 10 211 – 16!! (-229lbs)
20 month Nov 10 214 +3 (-226lbs) L
21 month Dec 10 202 – 8 (-238lbs)
2007
22 month Jan 10 214 + 12 (-2261lbs) L
23 month Feb 10 195 - 19 (-245lbs)(84% EWL, 32.4 BMI)
24 month Mar 10 188 – 7 (-252lbs in 2 years)
25 month Apr 10 184 – 4 (-256lbs) 30.6 BMI
26 month May 12 184 - 0 (-256lbs)
27 month Jun 10 190 +6 (-250lbs)

Projected:
28 month July 10 179 –11 (-261lbs)
PLASTICS July 11, 2007 Lower Body Lift! (hopefully lose 20lbs!)
29 month Aug 10 159 –20 (281lbs)
30 month Sep 10 158 –1 (282lbs)
31 month Oct 10 157 –1 (283lbs)
32 month Nov 10 156 –1 (284lbs)
33 month Dec 10 155 – 1 (285lbs)
PLASTICS December 21, 2007 Upper Body Lift! (hopefully lose 5lbs!)
34 month Jan 10 150 –5 (290lbs)
35 month Feb 10 149 –1 (291lbs)
36 month Mar 10 149 –0 (291lbs) GOAL in 3 Years! BMI 24.9 100% EWL lost

This is a post about Anne's question in the comorbities lost from having the DS.

Post Date: 6/10/07 11:58 am
Before and afters:

urinary incontinence - not all the time, but that, "oh my word, I'd better get to the bathroom now!" and leakage right when sitting down
now - no problem!

terrible low back pain -
now it had been gone, but lately my low back has been aching again, weird!

high blood pressure - it was getting high - 160/100
now it's about 102/60

pulse - was about 100 before I lost weight the first time, after I regained it got to about 90 or so
now it's in the low 60's

headaches -
I have way fewer headaches now, don't know why

neck pain -
not so much anymore

pain just moving across the room - you know what I mean - this was a big one!
not anymore!

sleep apnea - I believe I probably had this - didn't feel at all rested, but it was undiagnosed
now I sleep better through the night for the most part

depression - I think I was low grade depressed for a long time, though I'd really beaten this back in around 1992 from what it had been before. Maybe depression isn't the best way to describe it, but more of just a hopelessness about my future in trying to lose weight
now - I believe I'm getting there, and even if I stop here right around 190, that's a darn sight better than I was at 440 pounds.

considerable knee and hip pain
gone except for twinges here and there - which is to be expected from the former abuse

inability to reach my body parts - this was SO horrible, it was so hard to not even be able to get my hands behind my back
now - easily reach everywhere and have much more flexibility

couldn't stand and put on pants - underwear, socks, etc.
now I can stand on one leg and get them on!

shoes - couldn't get them on without a chair in front of me to put my foot on - especially for tying shoes - pretty much avoided shoelaces except for trainers
now I can get them on standing up, even, if I need to or bend over to put them on - anyway I want to!

I am so so so thankful. Even if I never lost another pound, I am normal, I don't stand out in a crowd like I used to. When I get my lower body lft/belt lipectomy, I expect I'll be in a 12/14 instead of a 16/18 so that should make it even better. I'm in a medium top for the most part, but even have gotten on a few smalls - in Jr's it's still probably a large or so.

So, if I'm an 8/10 on top and 12/14 on bottom, that's not so bad. I wish I could get down to a 10 bottom, but who knows if that'll ever happen with the amount I still have there and my thighs being so bad.

I have 179 as the top weight I'd be happy and I believe they'll take off more skin and fat with the LBL, so that should get me under that. 165 is my 10% above ideal weight goal, and ideal weight would be 149. I'm not betting on ever getting that low, although I'd love it if I did. My body is so dang effecient that it seems like even with the DS, it's not going to be easy to get down that last bit. I just need to be DILIGENT to keep from regain.

Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/190/165
hw/sw/cw/gw
-250lbs 25lbs to go
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani (will be updating pictures tomorrow hopefully for my 28 month anniversary)
Belt Lipectomy pending with Dr. Aly and Dr. Cram at ICPS 7/11/07

I hit my lowest of 182 - pretty cool.

Reading back over my journal - what a ride it's been so far! It's sort of strange to even look back at my old pictures and see how I used to look. I'm still so focused on my lower half and how I feel so fat still, that it's hard to comprehend how far I've come.

I showed a dozen or so folks at work my old passport - jaws were dropping - they couldn't believe it was the same person. I ended up telling a few about the surgery and how it was different than the usual gastric bypass. Basically admitted that I'd had a "medical intervention" lol, that I hadn't done it all on my own, but that I had worked hard the past few years with eating less and exercising, too.

I sure hope that this journal is encouraging to others that might see my info - I know that it appears that I've had one of the biggest losses on the ds rat data. Still so far to go til I finally get to the 291lbs total that I want to lose. Who knows, when I get my plastics done for my upper body lift in July, maybe I'll lose a few pounds from that. I had one doctor - my new pcp- tell me that he thought I'd lose 10lbs at least. I don't think I'll lose more than 7 at the max. Most of the time it's maybe a half pound to a pound for each arm, and it's just hard to tell on the UBL part.

I'm wishing I had researched a little better on my PS - it seems like Dr. Egrari is WAY more expensive than Dr. Aly and Dr. Cram - and I can't figure out why. I also really love the way that they do the arms at the ICPS place... and 2 nights in the hospital is included. I looked at this video - it's just amazing! http://www.icplasticsurgery.com/videos.htm - check out the brachioplastcy - I watched the whole thing - it was pretty gross, but informative. I'm hoping Dr. Egrari will agree to place the scar lower on my arm like they do!

Anyway, I'd better get going - I have to watch Eragon and return it before 9pm.

Take care everyone -
Jill

A New Low for Me....
(In a good way)

Height 5'5", weight 184lbs, BMI 30.6 This is my LOWEST weight since
1983. I was 180 pounds when I graduated from high school. I had gained
30 pounds that year from depression in a short amount of time, my
highest weight prior to that was something like 152lbs. Mostly through
high school I ranged from 138-148.

Only 5 pounds to go til I'm BMI 29.8 OVERWEIGHT!

Today is my 25 month anniversary and once again, I'm on the losing
side. I'm down 4 pounds from last month. Considering the extraordinary
few months I've had, I'm delighted!

For those who don't know me - I started at 440, yep... 440! pounds. I
could barely walk, clean myself, or drag myself to a friend's house.
Working was it. I sat on the computer night after night. I was slowly
killing myself... and that was after the heartbreak of losing 170 lbs
with the band and then regaining it ALL over the next 7 years when my
band failed.

Thank God for Dina, Dr. Baltasar, and the DS!

Only 19 pounds to goal - then hopefully plastics will take me the rest
of the way.
My realistic goal is 165, my dream goal for a BMI of 24.9 is 149lbs

This last weekend, I was at the Valley of Fire with a friend. I still
use my handicap sticker in my car sometimes from my bad days with an
arthritic knee and asthma, but, my friend visiting from Seattle was
laughing at me because she said "anyone seeing you scramble up the
rocks won't believe you need a handicap sticker". She made comments a
few times on how amazing the change must be - "Look at you running up
the stairs!" .. and it was amazing. We walked from the Excalibur down
to the Mirage and back yesterday. Yeah, my feet and legs hurt a little
at the end, but hers didn't feel super great either, and she weighs
148!

I've posted my weight loss history many times, but for you new folks,
I've added it below. I'm proof that the DS works - and it works on
revisions, and it KEEPS on working. Don't believe the "window" crap -
maybe for the RNY, but it sure hasn't been the case for me with the
DS! I love the stories I still hear of folks that maybe let a few
pounds creep on at 5 or 6 years, but start working it, and find they
are able to get back down. Granted, that's not everyone's story, but,
I consider the DS as the wonderful thing that gives me a level playing
field. Sure, I'm going to have to work it, and I can't just eat sugar
indiscriminantly or never exercise and expect to get down, but... with
a little work, it WORKS! :) Note that the weight loss does not just
go down down down... and it's frustrating as hell at times, but it
keeps going! Just call it the energizer DS bunny now!

Still working at getting back up to snuff on my vitamins and protein
levels - I'm going to get my labs soon, so we'll see if I've done any
damage by my bad follow through the past 7 months or so. Still having
the most trouble getting enough calcium in. With this teaching stuff,
it just makes my days crazy and I HAVE to get this as a priority! I
have great bones and I want to KEEP them! I'll be doing a Dexascan
again on August 1st to see from my last two years if there's any huge
changes.

I especially need to get my labs into shape before plastics in July!

Anyway, that's it on me of late....

Hugs,
Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/184/165-149
hw/sw/cw/gw- dream goal
BMI 30.6 down from BMI 73.2!!!!
Body fat - per my trainer is 23%
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani
Upper Body Lift pending 7/11/07 with Dr. Egrari

440 high weight 3/7/05
435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 –45!!
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21!!
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 –11 Skied!
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9 Skied!
11 month Feb 10 274 – 9
12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!) Skied!
13 month Apr 10 259 – 0 L
14 month May 10 250 – 9 skied! –190lbs 65% EWL
15 month June 10 248 – 2
16 month July 10 232- 16 (-208lbs)
17 month Aug 10 230– 2 (-210lbs)
18 month Sept 10 228 – 2 (-212lbs in 18 months)
19 month Oct 10 211 – 16!! (-229lbs)
20 month Nov 10 214 +3 (-226lbs) L
21 month Dec 10 202 – 8 (-238lbs)
2007
22 month Jan 10 214 + 12 (-2261lbs) (water weight issue!)
23 month Feb 10 195 - 19 (-245lbs)(84% EWL, 32.4 BMI)
24 month Mar 10 188 – 7 (-252lbs in 24 months)
25 month Apr 10 184 – 4 (-256lbs) (BMI 30.6!!!)
26 month May 10 184 – 0 (-256lbs)

I made it... two years ago I was 440 pounds. Today I'm 188 pounds. I love the DS!

I updated my weight on the last post.. and I'm also updating my measurements which I think are a bit further up.

My life has changed so much. I actually have a second date tonight, even! He's a very nice guy. We'll see how all that goes.

I can't wait til July when I can get my UBL. People at work have been making comments on "how small" I've gotten. That's crazy to me. One guy asked if I had "done anything" in just the past few months because it seems like it's been happening so fast! LOL. I said no, but that I have lost 40 pounds since last August, most of it very slowly. In fact, I only lost 7 pounds this last month, but it must have just shifted around or something, and the prior month was something like 8 pounds off, if you take into account the whole water weight thing I went through.

Anyway, I've had to keep going through the closet to get rid of more clothes that are just too big. I have very few tops left that are even 0x or 1x... my shoulders are looking even better than ever. It is a remarkable road, I must say! I'm in a 16 pant pretty much, now... which is so cool. Maybe some 18's but mostly 16.

Bless you Dr. Baltasar!

Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/188/165/149
hw/sw/cw/gw (realistic)/gw (dream)
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani (updated 3/10/05)

Pre Op measurements are the first set from Feb/March 2005:
Neck 17
5/12/05 15.5
6/14/05 15
6/30/05 15
7/14/05 14.5
8/10/05 14
9/12/05 14
10/19/05 13.25
11/11/05 13
12/13/05 13
1/10/06 13
2/14/06 13
3/11/06 12.75
4/12/06 12.5
5/18/06 12.5
6/20/06 12.5
7/19/06 12.5
10/2/06 12.5
11/14/06 12.25
2/13/07 11.75

-5.25 inches

Chest 63.5
5/12/05 60
6/14/05 59.5
6/30/05 56
7/14/05 55.5
8/10/05 55
9/12/05 52
10/19/05 50
11/11/05 49
12/13/05 49
1/10/06 47
2/14/06 45.5
3/11/06 43
4/12/06 43
5/18/06 43
6/20/06 43
7/19/06 42
10/2/06 41.25
11/14/06 41.25
2/13/06 39.75

-23.75 inches

Upper Arm 20
5/12/05 17.5
6/14/05 18
6/30/05 16.75
7/14/05 17
8/10/05 15.5
9/12/05 15
10/19/05 14
11/11/05 13.5
12/13/05 13.5
1/10/06 13.25
2/14/06 12.25
3/11/06 12
4/12/06 12
5/18/06 12
6/20/06 12
7/19/06 12
10/2/06 11.88
11/14/06 11.38
2/13/07 10.5
-9.5 inches

Forearm 13.25
5/12/05 13
6/14/05 12.5
6/30/05 12
7/14/05 11.5
8/10/05 11.25
9/12/05 11
10/19/05 10.5
11/11/05 10.25
12/13/05 10
01/10/06 10
02/14/06 10
03/11/06 10
4/12/06 10
5/18/06 10
6/20/06 10
7/19/06 9.5
10/2/06 9.75
11/14/06 9.75
2/13/07 9.38
-3.87 inches

Waist 62
5/12/05 56.5
6/14/05 52.5
6/30/05 50.5
7/14/05 48.75
8/10/05 46.5
9/12/05 45
10/19/05 42
11/11/05 40.75
12/13/05 40.75
01/10/06 40
02/14/06 39
03/14/06 39
4/12/06 37.5
5/18/06 37.5
6/20/06 37
7/19/06 37
10/2/06 37.75
11/14/06 36.38
2/13/07 34.25
-27.75 inches

Hip 79
5/12/05 75
6/14/05 73.5
6/30/05 71.5
7/14/05 69
8/10/05 68
9/12/05 64.5
10/19/05 61
11/11/05 60
12/13/05 59.5
01/10/06 56
02/14/06 56
03/11/06 55
4/12/06 54.5
5/18/06 54.5
6/20/06 54.5
7/19/06 50.5
10/2/06 50.38
11/14/06 49.75
2/13/07 46
-33 inches

Thigh 37.5
5/12/05 36
6/14/05 34.5
6/30/05 33.5
7/14/05 32
8/10/05 31.5
9/12/05 30
10/19/05 28.5
11/11/05 26.5
12/13/05 26.5
01/10/06 26
02/14/06 25
03/14/06 24
4/12/06 24
5/18/06 24
6/20/06 24
7/19/06 23
10/2/06 23.75
11/14/06 24
2/13/07 23.63
-13.87 inches

Calf 23.25
5/12/05 22
6/14/05 21.5
6/30/05 20.75
7/14/05 21
8/10/05 21
9/12/05 20.5
10/19/05 20.5
11/11/05 19.5
12/13/05 19.5
01/10/06 19.5
02/14/06 19
03/11/06 19
4/12/06 19
5/18/06 19
6/20/06 19
7/19/06 18
10/2/06 18
11/14/06 18
2/13/07 18
-5.25
Total -84.75 inches 9 months
Total -91.75 inches 10 months
Total -96.75 inches 11 months
Total -100.75 inches in 12 months
Total -104.25 inches in 13 months (4/12/06)
Total -112.74 inches at 20 months (11/14/06)
Total -122.23 inches at 23 months (2/13/07)
Total -128.36 inches at 24 months (3/10/07)

Wow, my lowest weight since 1983.

Here's a response to someone's post about whether the DS will work for them:

I felt the same way. I lost a lot the first month, but the second four weeks I lost basically nothing. I posted my weight loss over the last 23 months on the list a week or two ago, I'll post it again here for you. I started at 440lbs and was a revision, so my loss may have been a little slower due to that.

I am not sure if I was eating 1200 calories a day at 10 weeks out. I don't think I was eating that much. I posted a lot of what I was doing on my OH journal, and also on my fitday for the first year. After 1 year out, I stopped doing fitday, but I believe you can go back and see from before.

How big did the surgeon make your stomach, and how long is your common channel? Mine was 3oz and 65cm, but I know many doctors vary.

Personally, I would have gone nuts without a scale. I weigh every day still, when I can, although, in the morning I try not to weigh until after the bathroom, so sometimes I can't if I have to rush off to work. Saturdays and Sundays, at least, I have more leisure time.

Please don't let yourself freak out - I got very worked up the second
month when I plateaued and many other DSers assured me that it was
common to have happen, and not to worry, the DS would work for me.
Over the 23 months, I've had more than a few months with really slow
losses - but you'll see (below at bottom).

I know the DS has worked, and continues to work for me! Today I'm at
190lbs, my lowest since 1983. I have lost 250lbs in 23 and a half
months from my hefty starting weight (at 5'5") of 440lbs.

I also did do some working out while going down, and I still am trying
to get to the gym about 3 times a week. Sometimes I don't make it more
than once, though, but I do have a more active job now so I'm not
sitting at work anymore. I've lost 122 inches, too, so far.

You will and can do it!

Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/190/165
hw/sw/cw/gw
-250lbs, 25lbs to go
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=kilaani (go to
calendar and then scroll back through the months - I stopped
journaling in April 2006, but before that, for about a year I fitday'd
nearly every day for the first year. You can see I was far from the
best about my carbs or even sugars (which is what I need to
watch!)...but the DS has worked! Just for kicks, I also did fitday
for the first time in almost a year. Yesterday I didn't eat much at
all, until I got on a rice crispy bar kick last night, bad me! But,
overall, I ate around 2400 calories and 110 grams protein yesterday.

My oh journal: http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=N1104799693

weight loss chart:
440 high weight 3/7/05
435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 –45!!
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21!!
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 –11
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9
11 month Feb 10 274 – 9
12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!)
13 month Apr 10 259 – 0 L
14 month May 10 250 – 9 –190lbs 65% EWL
15 month June 10 248 – 2
16 month July 10 232- 16 (-208lbs)
17 month Aug 10 230– 2 (-210lbs)
18 month Sept 10 228 – 2 (-212lbs in 18 months)
19 month Oct 10 211 – 16!! (-229lbs)
20 month Nov 10 214 +3 (-226lbs)
21 month Dec 10 202 – 12 (-238lbs)
22 month Jan 10 214 +12 (-226lbs) (edema/water weight issues)
23 month Feb 10 195 - 21 (-245lbs) 84% EWL, 32.4 BMI
24 month Mar 10 - 188lbs -7lbs (-252lbs)

Updated Measurements & also pictures at www.picturetrail.com/kilaani

-246lbs, 29lbs to go!

Measurements are updated at the bottom....
Post from the boards:
I went back to the gym last night after a long while away (because of colds and bronchitis and pneumonia stuff).

We took pictures for my 23 month anniversary that was on the 10th, and also did my measurements. Wow! I lost 10 inches in 3 months. I updated picturetrail, too and my journal with all the numbers.

My total inches lost since Feb/March 2005 is an astounding -122.24!

As for getting a date... it was only appropriate that on Valentine's Day, I sent off my deposit on a date... a PS date, that is!

I'm going to get my upper body lift with arms done on July 11, 2007! Wow, less than 4 months away!!! Somehow I'm coming up with the money to make it happen.

I'll be going to Dr. Egrari in Bellevue, Washington. From everything I've heard, he's outstanding, and probably one of the top 5 around! He's pricey, but when I weighed the issues of complications abroad vs being with family and friends to take care/help me out, the increased costs seem worth it. Plus, he does fabulous work and I'm at the top of the complexity scale with my 2 prior open surgeries (scars on my abdomen like a cross) and skin issues with 246lbs gone, and age, etc....

:)
Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/194/165
hw/sw/cw/gw
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani (updated today)

I can't believe I didn't get on and post that on the 27th of January, 2007, I reached onederland! 199 pounds!!! It was a great birthday present 4 days before my 29th.. erm, I mean, 42nd birthday.

I'm still doing well, bounced up to 201 one day, but then blew past and now have been stable at 195 pounds for the past few days. I expect to maybe make another pound down for my next anniversary on Saturday which would be cool.

Be well, all. I'm feeling good, but must confess that for a few months, I was a very bad DSer. I was not faithful on water or vitamins nor getting protein first.

I am happy to say that I have gotten back on the wagon with my vitamins, even picked up some liquid calcium to try and help that along.

I have been sick since around Thanksgiving with colds and pneumonia and bronchitis related to teaching. Teaching has also been keeping me pretty busy.

I'm so delighted with my DS. On Saturday it will be my 23rd month anniversary. Whoever said the window closes at 18 months is crazy. I'm still losing and expect to lose more.

I also had a consultation with the fabulous Dr. Egrari when I was home in Seattle for Christmas. The sticker shock is frightening, though. He said that for me, although he never does it this way, he'd do the Upper Body Lift with arms, first, and then do my LBL for the 2nd surgery. Since I have a double panni (upper and lower) removing the upper first would "smooth things and make it much easier for the LBL". Price tag- $17k! My LBL will run $27k because he'll also do 4 zones of lipo on my legs. The breast lift (no implants, he said I'd be at least a C and wouldn't want to mess with them) would be around 9K and my thighs... guesstimate - $14k. Argghghhhh. I have no idea how I'll get that kind of money. If you are the praying type, please pray it in for me.

I will update more later.

Wow, just had to post that I hit 202.4 today. My lowest weight since 1998. 2.5 more pounds to ONEDERLAND!

Here's an update to measurements:
Measurements
Pre Op measurements are the first set from Feb/March 2005:
Neck 17
5/12/05 15.5
6/14/05 15
6/30/05 15
7/14/05 14.5
8/10/05 14
9/12/05 14
10/19/05 13.25
11/11/05 13
12/13/05 13
1/10/06 13
2/14/06 13
3/11/06 12.75
4/12/06 12.5
5/18/06 12.5
6/20/06 12.5
7/19/06 12.5
10/2/06 12.5
11/14/06 12.25
2/13/07 11.75
3/10/07 11.75

-5.25 inches

Chest 63.5
5/12/05 60
6/14/05 59.5
6/30/05 56
7/14/05 55.5
8/10/05 55
9/12/05 52
10/19/05 50
11/11/05 49
12/13/05 49
1/10/06 47
2/14/06 45.5
3/11/06 43
4/12/06 43
5/18/06 43
6/20/06 43
7/19/06 42
10/2/06 41.25
11/14/06 41.25
2/13/07 39.75
3/10/07 38.75
-24.75 inches

Upper Arm 20
5/12/05 17.5
6/14/05 18
6/30/05 16.75
7/14/05 17
8/10/05 15.5
9/12/05 15
10/19/05 14
11/11/05 13.5
12/13/05 13.5
1/10/06 13.25
2/14/06 12.25
3/11/06 12
4/12/06 12
5/18/06 12
6/20/06 12
7/19/06 12
10/2/06 11.88
11/14/06 11.38
2/13/07 10.5
3/10/07 10.25
-9.75 inches

Forearm 13.25
5/12/05 13
6/14/05 12.5
6/30/05 12
7/14/05 11.5
8/10/05 11.25
9/12/05 11
10/19/05 10.5
11/11/05 10.25
12/13/05 10
01/10/06 10
02/14/06 10
03/11/06 10
4/12/06 10
5/18/06 10
6/20/06 10
7/19/06 9.5
10/2/06 9.75
11/14/06 9.75
2/13/07 9.38
3/10/07 9.38
-3.87 inches

Waist 62
5/12/05 56.5
6/14/05 52.5
6/30/05 50.5
7/14/05 48.75
8/10/05 46.5
9/12/05 45
10/19/05 42
11/11/05 40.75
12/13/05 40.75
01/10/06 40
02/14/06 39
03/14/06 39
4/12/06 37.5
5/18/06 37.5
6/20/06 37
7/19/06 37
10/2/06 37.75
11/14/06 36.38
2/13/07 34.25
3/10/07 34.25
-27.75 inches

Hip 79
5/12/05 75
6/14/05 73.5
6/30/05 71.5
7/14/05 69
8/10/05 68
9/12/05 64.5
10/19/05 61
11/11/05 60
12/13/05 59.5
01/10/06 56
02/14/06 56
03/11/06 55
4/12/06 54.5
5/18/06 54.5
6/20/06 54.5
7/19/06 50.5
10/2/06 50.38
11/14/06 49.75
2/13/07 46
3/10/07 44.25
-34.75 inches

Thigh 37.5
5/12/05 36
6/14/05 34.5
6/30/05 33.5
7/14/05 32
8/10/05 31.5
9/12/05 30
10/19/05 28.5
11/11/05 26.5
12/13/05 26.5
01/10/06 26
02/14/06 25
03/14/06 24
4/12/06 24
5/18/06 24
6/20/06 24
7/19/06 23
10/2/06 23.75
11/14/06 24
2/13/07 23.63
3/10/07 21.38
-16.12 inches

Calf 23.25
5/12/05 22
6/14/05 21.5
6/30/05 20.75
7/14/05 21
8/10/05 21
9/12/05 20.5
10/19/05 20.5
11/11/05 19.5
12/13/05 19.5
01/10/06 19.5
02/14/06 19
03/11/06 19
4/12/06 19
5/18/06 19
6/20/06 19
7/19/06 18
10/2/06 18
11/14/06 18
2/13/07 18
3/10/07 17.13
-6.12
Total -84.75 inches 9 months
Total -91.75 inches 10 months
Total -96.75 inches 11 months
Total -100.75 inches in 12 months
Total -104.25 inches in 13 months (4/12/06)
Total -112.74 inches at 20 months (11/14/06)
Total -122.23 inches at 23 months (2/13/07)

Wow... as of today, it's my 19 month anniversary! I feel pretty good about -228lbs, let me tell you!

Here's my post from earlier on the DS forum:

Lab Rat Data for month 19:

-16 pounds

Month 18 was -2 by the way, as I don't think it got updated.

My weight loss totals - I'm 5'5 and had a starting bmi of 73.2 at the time of my revision from the band to the DS:

weight loss chart:
440 high weight 3/7/05
435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 –45!!
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21!!
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 –11
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9
11 month Feb 10 274 – 9
12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!)
13 month Apr 10 259 – 0 L
14 month May 10 250 – 9 –190lbs 65% EWL
15 month June 10 248 – 2
16 month July 10 232- 16 (-208lbs)
17 month Aug 10 230– 2 (-210lbs)
18 month Sept 10 228 – 2 (-212lbs in 18 months)
19 month Oct 10 211 – 16!! (-229lbs)

I love my DS!

I also have updated my picturetrail with my 19month pictures.
Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
Dr. Baltasar, Spain
440/435/212/165-149
hw/sw/cw/gw
-228lbs, 47lbs to go
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani

``````````````````````````````````````

Overall, my health is great - very little talking back from my knees and back anymore. I enjoy working out and feel strong. It's still mind blowing to feel the muscles in my arms and think that aside from the skin there's not much fat there!

I've been a little spotty with vitamins and I'm working to improve that and water.

Anyway, I have to run to work - blessings all! I'm so thankful to the Lord for his provision and my DS!

Jill

Well, it's been dropping like crazy. I'm super hoping for 3 more pounds by the 10th which would mean -18 pounds at 19 months out. I think that's pretty amazing, actually. But, even if I don't lose anymore, 16 pounds at month 19 is still pretty awesome!!!!

School has been going pretty well, the staff seems decent and I enjoy my kids. There are a handful that drive me crazy, but that's to be expected.

I guess I am moving around more - and about 3 weeks ago after I had already started dropping steadily, I did go back to the gym. I got a personal trainer named Tony that I really like. I have a few more sessions with him then I can decide if I want to buy more. I really can't afford it, but even going one time a week on the weight training equipment helps, I think. We figured out that my bodyfat is just about 29% which I am pretty amazed about. When he did the bodyfat test with the calipers, I actually came out at 16%, but we knew that was because the calipers only measure the hard fat not the soft fat. The trainer said that my body has already emulsified the fat which makes it almost liquid, and that's the hard part, so now burning it off should be the easier part. Getting 41 minutes in the "zone" is the magic number, and it usually takes me 5-7 minutes to be warmed up, so that makes it about a 50 minute cardio workout. That's not too difficult. I went twice last week, and will try to get in more next week. I work out with the trainer on Monday nights.

Men.... ugh. I met two guys down here through Yahoo - can you say disappointment!? Both of them were actually nice enough looking and seemed like decent guys, but they pretty much looked at me and decided they weren't interested. Go figure. I have pictures of me on the yahoo site, and I said I've lost a lot of weight and have more to lose, but I guess I don't spell it out enough. Problem is that I still look 350+ on my bottom half - my thighs and calves are HUGE. My worst fat deposits are on the top of my thighs and just above my knees. Other than that, I pretty much have been able to squeeze in a 16 pant at Avenue and Walmart, and 18's pretty much else. My 22s are way too big and my 20s are getting way too big, too! Tops, I'm in a 16 still. I actually picked up a bra that was a 38 for a sport bra - that was pretty amazing.

Speaking of my body - it's so strange to be only 12 pounds away from onederland. On one hand it's just too hard, still, to wrap my mind around. I look at the changes in my body in the last month and I'm pretty excited. On the other hand, it's becoming worse and worse on the whole skin thing. I agree with Laura who said she felt like she has aged. I have two lines on the sides of my mouth and if I'm not laughing, they look terrible! So now, I've added a necklift and facelift to my list of things to do.

Plastics are on the horizon. Depending on how much I lose, I'm going to get some things done this June! For SURE I'm getting my arms, breasts, neck and face done. I'd like to get my LBL/mons/everything else except the thighs done, too, but we'll see. If I'm at 185 by then, that's pretty much my cutoff. I don't want to get lower body work unless I'm down that much! It'd be aweful to spend all that time and pain and then feel like I needed to get more redone later!

Anyway, that's about it for the moment. It's pretty exciting. As so many others say - I LOVE my DS. I'll be updating pictures in a few days. Hasta la vista for now - two guys that helped me move in here are coming to dinner so I had better get moving!

Weight loss record:

440 high weight 3/7/05

435 on surgery date 3/10/05

1 month April 10 395 –45!!

2 month May 10 387 -8

3 month June 10 375 –12

4 month July 10 354 -21!!!!

5 month Aug 10 344 –10

6 month Sept 10 329 –15

7 month Oct 10 311 –18

8 month Nov 10 300 –11

9 month Dec 10 292 – 8

10 month Jan 10 283 – 9

11 month Feb 10 274 – 9

12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!)

13 month Apr 10 259 – 0 L

14 month May 10 250 – 9 –190lbs 65% EWL

15 month June 10 248 – 2

16 month July 10 232 -16

17 month Aug 10 230 -2

18 month Sept 10 228 -2

19 month almost there goal - Oct 10 210 -18 (but at least 212 and -16!)

I'm hoping that a few positive posts will make up for all the ones
where I was so discouraged about my weight loss.

Today... I weighed again and I'm down another 5 pounds for 225 lost,
and I weigh 215. Wow! That's -15 since the 10th of last month. It'd
be cool if it was a 20 pound weight loss month for month 19!!!! We'll
see. Even if I don't lose anymore this month (before the 10th) -15
pounds at 19 months out is great!

Last night, I also went to the gym and had a long talk with my
personal trainer. We did measuring (nothing happened that much from
last time) but he also did some body fat testing. By the computer, it
listed my body fat at 29.7%, but... when he did the caliper test, he
came up with 16%!!!!! It's only because he said that my body has
emulsified all the fat, it's all soft fat, so the calipers only work
on hard fat. We decided that it was likely that my bodyfat is closer
to the 29.7% because we figure I do have just about 51 pounds fat to
lose, and that it's likely my true LBM is around 155 pounds. My upper
body really does NOT have much of any fat left, he called me LEAN -
wow - ME - Lean!

He also said that I'm retaining a lot of water, so that I should be
drinking much more than I am per day to help schluff that out. There's
a big surprise, right Dina? I know drinking water helps weight loss
but I just have a hard time getting enough down.

Anyway, that's the news for the day.

Anyone that has had plastics - I'm starting to seriously look into
Costa Rica and Brazil - would love any and all input. I'm considering
Dr. Araya in CR, Dr. Fabio in Brazil, Dr. Kuster in Brazil and the
Lieberman clinic in CR. IT's got to be someone that isn't going to
freak out about my cross (both vertical and horizontal scar) and
aggressive with lipo and making things tight!

Hugs,

Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
Dr. Baltasar, Spain
440/435/215/149 (dream goal) 165 (realistic goal)
hw/sw/cw/gw
-225lbs, 50 to go!
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani

I weighed today and I now weigh 220lbs, and I've lost 220lbs. I am literally half the person I used to be.

I went and saw my mom and she commented that I'm much smaller than I was about a month or so when she saw me last.

Pants are getting looser, so things are still changing. I worked out a few times last week, but the weight had started going down about a week before that, so there's just no knowing!

I wear about a size 16 on top and and 18/20 on the bottom. I tried a pair of really old size 16 jeans today, but they are still waaay too tight. A few more inches in the waist, and then I just have to stuff my panni in (tmi I know).

I'm still hoping that maybe by Christmas I will have the best present ever and be under 200. We'll see.

I'm seriously beginning to think about getting my arms and breasts done next summer as soon as I'm done with work for the school year. I get out June 8, so maybe June 9th to Costa Rica or Brazil! I hope I can find someone that does SUPER work and isn't too expensive cuz I'm going to have to charge it!

I just updated the www.picturetrail.com/kilaani with some new pics last week.

hugs all,
Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/220/165
hw/sw/cw/gw
-220lbs, -55lbs to go

What a wild ride the past month or more has been! Since I moved to Las Vegas, I've barely had time to breath. A lot of my days (by choice, silly me) have been at school from 7:30am to 7:30pm. I am enjoying teaching so much, but get frustrated with my shortcomings - but a lot of that will come with experience, I believe. First graders get really tired out in the afternoon, so keeping them on task and working gets to be a challenge. I was sick the past week or so, but am slowly getting better. Fortunately, it wasn't anything bad enough to keep me out of work since I have basically no sick leave and it'd be SUPER bad for me to call in sick this early in the year!

As far as my weight goes, it's been very frustrating. The past month, I'd lost basically nothing, been bouncing around 230-232. Fortunately, I'd even just gotten to 228 to call it 2 pounds gone for my 18 month anniversary, but sheesh! At 228 pounds, I'm still obese, and still so far from goal. This whole month of September has been frustrating in the weight ways.. until... a few days ago. For no particular reason - meaning - I'm not eating ANY different - my weight started dropping again. I have dropped about a pound every day for the past 5. Now I'm at 224. Whoo hoo! So.. I guess all that to say that the DS still works.

My bad, I never did make it back to the gym after my last posting. It wasn't until yesterday that I got in and spent 20 minutes on the nautilus treadclimber, which isn't bad considering I'm still a little congested. I'm going to go today. My plan for the day is to get some pictures uploaded to my picturetrail, do my bills, go to school, then head to the gym. I have an appointment with a personal trainer tomorrow at 6pm. Hopefully it'll work out to make it there that early. I decided to go with the gym closer to my house since it's the nicer one and I plan on Tues/Thurs/Sat/Sun for my workout days.

About my eating: I am able to eat more than I used to, that's for sure. I still don't overeat, though. Yesterday, lets see if I can even remember all I had:

Breakfast - 2 homemade blueberry waffles (the squares) with butter and syrup

1 package of weight control cinnamon oatmeal (didn't finish it) with soymilk and sugar free coffeemate

lunchish: potato chips with dip

Greek Festival:

3 or 4 spoonfuls of rice pilaf with a few lamb slices, few bites of chicken, few bites of potstatis (some sort of pasta meat stuff, kinda like a lasagna) bite of the grape leaf wrapped rice and beef (Doumsomethings?), louakmathis or something like that which are honey balls (had 3).

Later (fourth meal!)
taco bell mexmelt and even later, most of a spicy chicken burrito
with sour cream.

Today when I got up, I weighed a pound less than yesterday - gotta love that!

Today I've had an english muffin with a scrambled egg, 2 slices of american cheese, 2 lunch meat slices of honey ham (the healthy choice kind) and butter on the muffin. I was able to finish the whole thing and still feel full a few hours later.

I think it's been helping to eat earlier in the day and a little more in the morning than I was eating. I still eat too late at night, and probably more than I need at night. Usually at lunch time when I'm working I might have a white castle cheeseburger, or some small amount (maybe 3-4ounces) of leftovers like spaghetti or chicken and rice or a small sandwich but I usually can't finish one at lunch time for some reason. I am drinking more water - I don't like to drink soda in Las Vegas for some reason, but I still think I'm not getting near enough!

Well, I gotta go to school and do some organizing for Monday morning!

It's been a while now. I've had some changes since I last posted. I'm now living in Las Vegas. I sure couldn't have made the move before I lost weight! I have a teaching job now, and I love it!

Right now, I'm at 229.6, however, my weight has been bouncing up and down. I'm hoping to lose another 5 pounds before the 10th, but we'll see if it happens. It seems like every month or two I'll have a good drop followed by a slow time. I know this last month has been slow, in part, due to my lack of exercise at the gym. Moving has just kept me crazy busy, plus getting ready for my students and lesson plans and all that. It is my committment to myself, though, that this week, starting Tuesday, I'm going to hit the gym again.

Today is my 15 month anniversary of my awesome DS.

However, I've been a bit discouraged the past few months.

At 14 months, I have lost 65% of my EWL, which is truly a wonderful thing. However, I still have 99lbs or thereabouts to go.

I was actually down to 243 at one point during this month, and then bounced back up. I still battle the fear that the DS won't continue to work for me. I have such a lot more to lose! I don't want to stay at 240 pounds the rest of my life - agony!

I have relaxed the past few months on keeping track of what I ate, and I probably have either been eating more than I think or eating more sugar than I think, or maybe not getting enough protein. I just did the fitday on the past two days, and yesterday I figure I ate 2573 calories, 105 gr protein, 224gr carbs, low fiber. The day before was 2570 calories, 70 gr protein, 164gr carbs, low fiber. I also probably have not been drinking enough water. Today's plan is to get 100 oz of fluid (which I'm dismal at), and my potential fitday if I eat what I'm planning is: 1895 calories, 119gr protein, 172gr carbs, and low fiber.

Maybe I ought to just try getting fluids in again for a while. 64oz + of fluid is not easy for me, but I never have the symptoms of dehydration, either.

I don't care for vegetables, so getting high fiber is a problem. I think another problem is that I have been eating out a lot more over the past two months. I have been doing pretty well with vitamins maybe 70% or 80% of the time - except for calcium is the hardest to get the full dosages in, I think I've not been doing so well about that. I also haven't worked out in the past 3 weeks.

I have been so busy -it's been great to just read along of what's happening for others, but I have not been able to post responses. Hopefully now that I have my masters degree done, I can start concentrating on taking care of myself and be more on top of things in responding to the list.

I am looking forward to the trip to SF!

On the other plus side, today is my graduation day. Here is a picture of my hooding ceremony yesterday. The professor with me is my very favorite and a wonderful teacher.

 

Thanks for reading. I sure hope things continue to go downward weightwise, but it's hard. I could use prayers for my job situation, too. I really really need to find a teaching job, but it's been discouraging, as well. I feel like it's got to be that I'm over 40 and still fat. Ugh. Everything else, my experience, and resume, looks great.

Take care,
Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
440/435/248/149
HW/SW/CW/GW
-192lbs, 99 to go
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani

Wow... This is my very very lowest in I don't remember how long! I am feeling great and hope this downward trend will continue for a while before it bumps again. Yesterday was great, we spent hours walking around Pike Place Market and I didn't have to stop or sit down or anything - no shortness of breath, no aching feet. I'm so happy with the DS, despite the sagging skin which is getting more and more prevalent. My arms and thighs actually are the most annoying. The breasts and stomach I can cover up, but the arms and thighs, dang, I would like to be able to wear tank tops and shorts, but, nope, can't do it. My shoulders look great - I actually have collarbones that show almost all the time now. My breasts are definitely down to the waist, but hey, that's what a bra is for, right? I just roll 'em up and stuff 'em in! I definitely want a lift later, but I would prefer not to have to do implants. We'll see how much breast tissue I'm left with after the weight is all gone. With 95 pounds or so to go, that's a long way off! I think I probably will be ready to start thinking about reconstructive surgery somewhere around 160-170 pounds. I'm not sure how easy it will be to get to 149 without removing a lot of this sagging skin.

Today I need to concentrate on preparing for school tomorrow and for my classes at the University. I have been a bit of a slacker this quarter because of the job thing - it's taken a lot of time and energy.

It's also a gorgeous day, so I feel a little conflicted about being indoors! Maybe I'll be able to get a bike ride in, too.

Quote of the day:
"I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life's greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending commitment to act until they achieve. This level of resolve can move mountains, but it must be constant and consistent. As simplistic as this may sound, it is still the common denominator separating those who live their dreams from those who live in regret."
Anthony Robbins

I haven't posted in such a long time! Big things have been going on in my life and I've barely been keeping up on e-mail. I'm less than a month from graduation - my M.Ed. (Masters in Education) so I'm pretty excited and have a lot of school work to finish up for my last 2 classes. I also was able to start a long term sub job for the rest of the year teaching English Language Learners, so that's exciting. It's half days mornings, so that worked out well for me. Yesterday, I had an interview with one of the districts that has been pretty interested in me. We'll see what happens. I have to get a job! The sooner the better, too.

Weight-wise, I was down 9 pounds for my 14th month anniversary. Not as much as I would have wished, but when ever is it!? I'm moving in the right direction, unlike last month which still really frosts me, but hey, 9 pounds is more than I could have lost on my own! I've been much more active, and yesterday when I was at the interview we did a tour of one of the schools with stairs, and I didn't cringe just seeing them! I wasn't the last one up the stairs, either. Yeah! I'm still bigger than a lot of people, but hey, I'm starting to look more "normal" fat, unlike mega super huge fat.

I was very excited last week - I was at Old Navy and found a great jean jacket that fit. I also bought *deep breath* a BELT in size LARGE. Not plus size, a WOMEN's size large! That was the coolest. I have been shopping too much, and had to finally stop, and put my foot down. I was spending like a drunken sailor and my finances were reflecting the outflow - that is no good since I don't know what my income (if any) will be this summer and my savings are going down down down!

I was going to go to the gym and do the picture/measure thing today, but instead I'm heading to Pike Place Market with a friend who wants to buy his mom flowers...awwww.

Take care, everyone, and thank you to all of you who have encouraged me with your comments about my journey. It's been slow, but, I'm getting there! 48 pounds more before I'll hit 199 - I can't wait!

Jill

Posted this to the ds group early this morning:

Today is really hard. In 12 months, I lost 181 pounds. Today is the 13th pound and now I've lost 180 - I'm UP one pound from last month... UGH. This is NOT the right direction! On around the 1st or 2nd, I was 4 pounds up from my anniversary on the 10th last month. Last month, I lost 15 pounds. I guess a stall could be partly to be expected since I lost so much last month and I'm further out, but this is my first gain month, so it's very difficult for me, even though it's only a pound. I have heard from lots of DS folks who posted recently about stalls - that had a stall for 4-6 weeks or more then started losing again, so I haven't lost my determination and faith that the DS works but it's excrutiatingly painful to see a gain when I still have a hundred pounds to lose.

I had been so discouraged when after watching my intake and exercising a lot (5-6 days per week), my weight wasn't going down, but it was even going up a little. About the 27th or so, I really bottomed out as far as even keeping track of things. My first year, I fitday'ed for about 357 out of 365 days... so far, my second year, I've already missed about 10-12 days. I guess I'm tired of watching every bite. I had varied from eating 1200-1400 calories to 1700-1800 to 2200-2400 all in the attempt to jostle my body out of this plateau to no avail. It has been going down again the past few days (with little attempts on my part) so, I guess the body does just whatever it wants to do, and it seemed to want a rest this month!

I had a particularly emotional time right around the 1st when Ray died as many of us have. I know more than one of us posted about doing some emotional eating around this event -- we had prayed so hard for him (and swung chickens or did whatever they do) and it was heartbreaking to lose Ray and so hard to think of his family's loss. I have been playing with sugar more than usual, of late....but not to the extent that I should be GAINING, so go figure.

I spoke with Dina who strongly felt I've been focusing on the wrong things - rather than looking at carbs so much, it might be better to look at fiber and water and make sure I'm getting enough of both. Of course keeping protein up goes without saying.

I also need to get back on the 5 days a week exercising, as I'm back down to about 3 days a week.

Sorry about the long post - just wanted to tell you guys where I was and let pre-ops know that it definitely isn't just down down down on the weight loss. I also use weight commander (google it) as a tool to keep track and weigh daily, and my weigh the whole time has zigzag'd up and down, but just usually not up without going down again for the month! Just for reference, here's my weight loss chart:

440 high weight 3/7/05

435 on surgery date 3/10/05

1 month April 10 395 –45!!

2 month May 10 387 -8

3 month June 10 375 –12

4 month July 10 354 -21!!!!

5 month Aug 10 344 –10

6 month Sept 10 329 –15

7 month Oct 10 311 –18

8 month Nov 10 300 –11

9 month Dec 10 292 – 8

10 month Jan 10 283 – 9

11 month Feb 10 274 – 9

12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!)

13 month Apr 10 260 + 1 :(

 

I guess, as Forest Gump would say, "That's all I have to say about that", at least for the moment. I have been through playing out every scenario I could think of so more queries in that regard probably aren't too helpful, i.e. too much sugar, too little food, too much food, too little exercise, too much exercise, etc, etc, etc. Encouragement is always appreciated as I am feeling rather fragile today. I'm disappointed, to say the least even though I know I've come a tremendous way already.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I posted the above earlier today. Turns out, I had another few bathroom trips and I'm actually not UP one pound, I'm just about exactly the same as I was one month ago. So at least I can still say that I'm down 181 pounds.

It has been a frustrating month, to say the least. I will be getting measured and pictures taken on Wednesday, so hopefully that will be different enough that it makes up for not losing a single pound this last month!

I'm in the midst of trying to get a teaching job, have a job fair next week and I've been working on cover letters, getting letters of recommendation, and my resume. I've had some great people offer to help, so that's cool.

Tonight I have homework for my class tomorrow night,and tomorrow is going to be busy - I'm subbing two different jobs in the same day - one from 8:35-12:05 and one from 12:05-3:35 - fortunately, they both are at the same school.

Take care, all.

Jill
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani

Well, I bounced a bit from yesterday but that is to be expected. I still have been keeping up on things. Thanks to everyone who has posted in response to my one year anniversary - it's very encouraging to hear that I have been inspiring to anyone.

Today, I had my picture taken with my sister. Just for fun, I'm posting that picture here along with a picture I had taken one year ago with her in Alcoi just before my surgery - probably the day of.
Today:

1 year ago:

Pretty significant difference, I think.

I have been doing so much better with carbs and protein. I did get just a bit above 100 grams carbs today (dratted popcorn - I had been craving it all week) but the protein is going great. I usually do two shakes a day now, and take them with upcalD, which means I only have to do 2 other sets of calcium citrate pills to get my 2000mg in.

Today is rest day for cardio. It's just as well because I have a comprehensive final exam on reading for Tuesday and a final project, final exam and one last homework to complete for my statistics class on Wednesday night...AND my mom is coming into town to visit on Thursday so that means I'm scrambling to get things cleaned up - my room still qualifies as a Federal disaster area! Actually, that's not quite true, I exaggerate. I spent some time cleaning last week and feel a bit better about it. Still have much too much paperwork to go through and no where to really put it. My mother has also told me that she is planning on selling this place in the summertime, so that leaves me with a lot of uncertainty of where I will end up, if I even have a job at that point (which I pray and have faith for that I will!) I'm just trying to keep my faith strong that God will take care of me and I'm not going to end up homeless on the street or something!

Oh... I have to note that a guy that I've been chatting with (Todd in Boise) called me a hottie yesterday! I'm thinking ....No way! But then a few other fellas have been really positive to me lately, too...but... it's easier to believe when it's in person.

Okay, time to do statistics homework, no more avoidance strategy!

Here is my post from the boards today:

The 1 year anniversary of my revision from the band to the DS was yesterday, March 10th.

I have to say, I'm feeling great. I'm sooo thankful for the DS and for my brilliant surgeon Dr. Baltasar!

In one year, I went from 440 pounds to 259 pounds - for a total loss of.....(drum roll please) .... 181 pounds. :)

Pictures have been updated at www.picturetrail.com/kilaani for anyone interested.

I have lost 101.25 inches so far and have gone from 63 to 43 chest, 62 to 39 waist, and 79 to 55 on my hips. Definitely not pinup measurements with 43/39/55 but a whooooole lot better than I was! I've turned into a real pear, which is no fun, but, hey, I already knew plastics were in my future.

I am so happy to be working out at the gym 3x per week and doing cardio 5-6x per week! I hope I can keep 5-6x per week going consistently because I really think it makes a difference with my weight loss.

I was at the doctors yesterday and had my labs done - we'll see next week what they look like.

When I was there, my blood pressure is now 138/81 instead of 160/110 which I think it was in February 2005 before my surgery - still not to my best which was 110/70. However, my resting pulse is now 55. Long ago, the first time I was 440lbs, my resting pulse was about 100 which is an amazing change. My doctor was also pleased with my results and was very cooperative in getting my labs done. The lab gal took 15 vials of blood from me and we managed to do it with one poke. Good think I have the Alaskan Pipeline of veins.

This last month has also been an improvement in regards to my issues with carbs and how many calories on average I'm getting in.. it was:

Feb 10-Mar 10: 1854 calories: 94gr fat, 129gr carbs, 15gr fiber, 124gr prot

This is a big difference from the prior month. I think I feel better when I keep the carbs lower and I'm pretty happy keeping my calories around 1500-1900.

And.... I lost 15lbs in month 12 for my LAB RAT data.

Excercise helps! That's all I have to say. I mentioned joining a 40 day challenge on the yahoo graduate-ossg list in my last post, and my goals were to do cardio 5x per week, eat at least 120gr protein per day and keep my carbs under 100gr. I've made it on 7 days so far, and have done cardio 6x!

My weight loss has picked up - and I've also been better about getting in my 64oz with more exercise - it's just easier while I'm doing cardio. I pulled out my old WATP (Walk Away the Pounds) dvds, and I'm enjoying them. I mix it up with the elliptical at the gym, too, on weight training days. I'm still doing that 3x a week, too.

Skiing was FABULOUS! I also had a WOW moment. I thought the Brooks lift had some beginner runs on it, so I went over to that chair and did a few runs on it. The first was a little tough, but I found an easier way down the next time and had a few really great runs. When I went in for dinner (I made it for the challenge by having a Chicken Caesar salad instead of the chili or pizza I really wanted!) I got a map of the mountain - and the runs I'd been doing were INTERMEDIATE! This was cool. I used to do intermediate/black diamond all the time when I skiied back in high school, but I've been trying to take it slow getting back into it. So, for now, easy intermediate is my niche! I want to get back up to Stevens at least 3 more times this month and at least once next month for spring skiing. Have to make my investment of updated gear worth it! :)

The biggest deal in the past two days, though, is hitting 259. I had made 260 my goal for my 1 year anniversary on Friday and I pray to God this pound will stay off and maybe have another join it by Friday to make it 182 pounds gone in one year. That's amazing to even write!!!!!

I am struggling with school and my room (same old themes) but I'm in a new cell group at my new church (since July, at least) oh.. see www.thecity.org for my church's website. The cell group is called Moving Forward, and it's about leaving old things behind - I'd like to leave my messy room and disorganized life behind, but most of all I'd like to leave my lack of faithfulness to the Lord. I haven't been nearly as dedicated and faithful to Him as he has been to me. I'm so thankful for all the miracles in my life, then I kinda just go do whatever I want. We'll see what comes of it. I do believe the verse Jeremiah 29:11, that the Lord has plans for my life, of good and not evil, of a hope and a future....

I had better go do some house and school work. Time gets away from me here on the computer. Oh, I also got a stability ball to sit on at the computer - to see if that helps instead of slouching at a computer chair. It's a 75cm and seems to be big enough, at least.

I will have an update on Saturday, hopefully, for my 1 year anniversary of the DS including my new pics and measurements. :)

Quote of the Day:
"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living."
Psalm 27:13

Here's a post I just put on the boards:

I have finished day 3 and am on to day 4 of the challenge.

I've gotten in my cardio 30 minutes each day

My carbs have been able to squeak in under 100 (81 the first and 2nd days, 94 the third day)

Yesterday, my protein was the highest ever - 218 grams!

All that with calories yesterday at 1731 (including shakes)! I guess cutting down the carbs makes a huge difference. Plus, I did try an ISOPURE Zero carb rtd alpine punch yesterday. I guess it would be doable (anyone else have favorites?)

But the reason I'm posting is that today I'm down to 263.8 - only 3 pounds left for my goal in 6 days. Maybe I'll make it! In any case, this is my lowest weight since what seems like forever - at least before 1998 the last time I had surgery. My lowest weight then was 267.

I'm feeling great - I love the DS!

Okay, I'm heading off to go skiing - which is such a miracle! I couldn't have done that a year ago, for sure! http://www.stevenspass.com/webcam/ This is where I'll be!

~~~~~~~~~~
I'm pretty excited to be headed up skiing. It should be very good conditions today!

I'll have to update more on this page later, I know I haven't been posting all that much lately. I have finals coming up so I might be scarce the next two weeks.

Quote of the day:
"Just Do It"
Nike

Well, I finally broke through again! Today was measure and picture day, so I've updated my picturetrail account as well as my measurements. I lost 5 more inches, which is cool. I think the pictures turned out well this month, too. I'm wearing my 0x shirt (a very unusual one, since I'm still in 1x/2x mostly. I did try on a medium sized sweatshirt the other day and I actually got it on! That was exciting! Also, I tried on another medium shirt and I was able to get it on and buttoned, but it was a stretchy velvet material and it didn't look good, but, still!

Quote for the day:
"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece."
John Ruskin

Well, this past week or two have been a bit discouraging. I was down as low as 273, but, started fluctuating, and then I was stuck at 275 for a while, then a few days I even jumped up to 281 then back down again. In any case, here I am at 11 months out and I've lost 166 pounds. Not bad at all, just not quite as fast as I would like!

I think it really helps when I move more. These past few days I've been working and the weight really started moving down again. When I sit still all day, surprise, I get stalled - even if I'm working out 3 days a week. It's just not enough. I need to get back on the cardio 5-6 days a week thing. Ever since I got sick again, it's hard to get back in the groove. I just need to be patient and keep at it - this is my time to make this weight thing happen!

Quote:
"To everything there is a season under Heaven"
Ecclesiastes

Well, the scale has been moving like crazy this month and it was such a relief! It finally slowed again the last few days, awww, but, I'm okay with that - the DS is working, that's all I can say! I've updated my picturetrail photos and the "after" photo on this page.. and updated my ticker! I wish I knew which site to get my time since surgery ticker going again :(

I need to get going on my assignment for school, so I had better run!

Quote for the day:
"Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future"
Steve Miller

Just a quick update - I got my new measurements in from the other day at the gym and I lost 7" from last month. Total I've now lost 91.75 inches in 10 months. I feel great about that. Measurement that was most amazing - I'm now 40" at my waist.. 12 more inches to goal! I would love to get down to 38/28/38 :) Not that it'd likely ever happen, but still!

I have to run to the cabin today, and I'm also stopping by Vitalady's to get some more vitamins and such! It's going to be a busy day. Hopefully I'm going with my friend Loren to see Glory Road tonight, it looks like a fun movie. I saw Casanova last week with him and we both really liked it.

I'm currently struggling with a cold that I've had for a week now. I only will have worked out lifting 1 day and will have done cardio for 3 days - not so great after my 3 weeks at 5 days a week! However, my trainer told me lifting isn't good when the body is fighting to recover. Oh well. My skiing trip next week also looks to be in jepoardy unless I feel bunches better by Monday!

Tomorrow I have a study group at 3:30pm, so I'm in a world of hurt unless I get moving on that homework today. Monday I'm meeting a gal who also is named Jill :) from my ethics class and we're going for Pupusas at the El Salvadorean Bakery. Yes, I know it's a carb focus, but I really miss the food from Costa Rica and this is as close as I can get. I'll probably also get the platanos fried and maybe fried yucca! It should be a fun experience anyway.

Got to run. Blessings to all out there in journal land, though likely I bet no one is reading this at all!!!! hehehe.

Oh, before I go... I was thinking about an e-mail I received today about being a revision, and I think revisions have to battle through more fears than most DSers. I know that I do. In 12 more pounds I'll be as low as I have been in the last 20 years. In 1998 after my original band surgery, I got to 270 for a few days, then dipped to 267 for a half hour then started gaining again. So for me, getting beyond that mark is a test. I need to make sure I'm not stressing out, because as Dina says, stress inhibits weight loss!

Quotes for the day:

"A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Let us, then, be up and doing, with a heart for any fate; still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labor and to wait."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might as well put that passing time to the best possible use."
Earl Nightingale

Here's something I posted earlier:
Today is 10 months since I had the wonderful DS. Here's my history:

440 high weight 3/7/05
435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 –45
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 –11
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9

As everyone can see, my weight loss has slowed the past few months. This is reason for concern, since at 283 (and 5'5") I'm still heavier than some folks were when they were PRE-OP! I struggle a lot with the fear that others have expressed - that the DS will stop working for me and I'll never get under 200lbs, much less to 149 which is my fantasy goal (to have a bmi of 24.9 and be NORMAL). Part of my fears have to do with the experience of having my band fail me, and the horrific emotional depression of starting to regain at 7-8 months after my band surgery (my band leaked).

I have a feeling that the slowness of my loss may be the carbs that slip in at every opportunity. Just for kicks, I did an analysis of my eating by looking at each month on fitday. The results are a bit staggering as far as my carb intake (updated for month 11):

Average Post-Op Monthly Caloric Intake

Mar 10-April 10: 717 calories, 36gr fat, 43gr carb, 5gr fiber, 56gr prot
- 45lbs (month 1)
April 10-May 10:1225 calories: 64gr fat, 92gr carb, 8gr fiber, 69gr prot
- 8lbs (month 2)
May 10-Jun 10: 1660 calories: 98gr fat, 125gr carb, 19gr fiber, 77gr prot
- 12lbs (month 3)
Jun 10-July 10: 1678 calories: 95gr fat, 123gr carb, 18gr fiber, 88gr prot
- 21lbs (month 4)
July 10-Aug 10: 1721 calories: 92gr fat, 137gr carb, 16gr fiber, 91gr prot
- 10lbs (month 5)
Aug 10-Sept 10: 1574 calories: 84gr fat, 121gr carb, 10gr fiber, 83gr prot
- 15lbs (month 6)
Sept 10-Oct 10: 1768 calories: 102gr fat, 134gr carb, 15gr fiber, 81gr prot
- 18lbs (month 7)
Oct 10-Nov 10: 1977 calories: 98gr fat, 148gr carb, 15gr fiber, 125gr prot
- 11lbs (month 8)
Nov 10-Dec 10: 1963 calories: 93gr fat, 162gr carb, 16gr fiber, 118gr prot
- 8lbs (month 9)
Dec 10-Jan 10: 2211 calories: 111gr fat, 174gr carb, 20gr fiber, 129gr prot
- 9lbs (month 10)
Jan 10-Feb 10: 2224 calories: 106gr fat, 179gr carb, 17gr fiber, 138gr prot
- 9lbs (month 11)
Feb 10-Mar 10: 1854 calories: 94gr fat, 129gr carbs, 15gr fiber, 124gr prot
- 15lbs (month 12) (I'm very happy about this!)

I need to somehow get the carb monster out of my life - fortunately, it hasn't been milk and sugar so much as things like breads, potatoes, and other starchy carbs. Even so, I've done my fair share of sugar in the past few months. Last night at the movies, I had an ice cream bar - which goes against everything I said I'd do before this surgery. I've had maybe 6 pints of Ben and Jerrys or the like since 10 months ago, but still that's too many.

I don't want to waste my precious weight loss time, and yet, that's what I feel like I'm doing. I guess I have to have faith that even though I'm eating more stuff than I said I would, I am eating a lot less than pre-op, and I'm much more aware of my choices! I think I may try and decrease my caloric average to around 1700 calories next month and see where that puts me. It's just odd because I have days where I'm eating around 1500 calories and gain, and days I eat 2400 calories and lose. It seems like there is no rhyme or reason.

The other factor I have finally gotten serious about in the past month which will hopefully reflect in my next month weight loss is exercise. I'm committed to 5 days a week cardio - Tuesday-Saturday, and 3 days a week with the personal trainer - Tues/Thurs/Saturday. I'm hoping this is going to really start to make a difference. Before, probably from September-early December I was barely making 2 days a week with the personal trainer and not much more cardio than that.

Lest I sound like I'm disappointed in the DS - let me reassure everyone that I'm not! I am delighted that I am down 157lbs in 10 months. I am so glad to have had the DS and be able to do so many more things than I could at 440lbs. In 13 more pounds, I'll have reached my all time low since 1998 when I had the first surgery - and I was at 270 for probably about an hour before I started gaining due to the band leak.

I'm just trying to be realistic and take a real hard look at the choices I'm making. I know they haven't been the very best for me, and I need to at least move in the right direction towards improving them. I know I don't do well with the hard core "I'm going to cut out all carbs" because that sets up the forbidden fruit syndrome where I rebel and say screw it and eat even more - I don't want to do that with the DS! But, I do want to try and improve my choices.

I hope this makes sense to everyone, and I, as always, enjoy input!
~~~~
I received a lot of very encouraging responses, thank you all! Later on today, I went to my gym appointment. We did the measuring thing, and I lost 7 inches in the last month. That is certainly an improvement over the measly .75 inch I lost last month!

Today, I'm at 1772 calories for the day with 110gr carbs, 171gr protein, 20gr fiber, and 72gr fat. Even today I wasn't able to get my carbs below 100, but they sure were a lot better.

Quotes of the day:
"As a camel beareth labor, and heat, and hunger, and thirst, through deserts of sand, and fainteth not; so the fortitude of a man shall sustain him through all perils."
John Ruskin

"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain."
1 Corinthians 9:24

Almost a month since I last posted. I finally got off a plateau that I had been on for the longest time. 3 weeks ago I also stepped up my workouts. This was going to be the third week that I worked out with my personal trainer 3 times a week and I did cardio 5 days a week, however, I got sick today so I cancelled my training session tomorrow. I did do cardio today, though, and I'll do cardio tomorrow, so I'll still have the cardio for 5 days this week.

Big NSV (non-scale-victory) today! I pulled out the Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds DVD that I had bought years ago and decided to try the 3 mile walk. I did the whole thing - at the pace of the music on the tape! A few years ago, there was no way I could keep up and the 1 and 2 miles were a super challenge. I couldn't do the 3 mile back then! So, that felt really super good. It really is a nice workout and the 1 mile was a good way to start just moving again. When I was 420 or so, I was trying to do the tape and just had to keep moving as my goal.

I will be having my 10 month anniversary on Tuesday. I'm really hoping for 3 more pounds by then, but we'll see. I dropped a lot today so I may have to give some back tomorrow, my weight goes up and down a lot, so I just have to be cool with that. I hope hope hope to make 280 by Tuesday, though... that would be 160 pounds gone in 10 months. We'll see!

I've started a new quarter and it's going to the be hardest I've had. I am taking a statistics class - ugh! However, I'm working to try and get a study group or two together so we can hopefully help each other. I'm also taking an online ethics class. I'm so glad I'm not commuting twice a week to SPU - it's a heckuva drive on the bridge, especially when traffic is bad.

I'm planning to go skiing again, soon. I'm signed up for a workshop on the 19th and then my birthday is the 31st and I'm definitely going up that day since I get a free ticket!

As far as my life with the DS, I'm still trying to figure things out. I struggled some in December with a lot of carbs, and slow weight loss. Hopefully adding more cardio is going to help and I'm still doing carbs, but trying to up the protein even more. I seem to do better when I get my calories up to 2200-2400 a day. The past month, I've increased my average calories to about 2100 per day. This seems to be moving my weight faster than the prior month when I was a few hundred calories less and lost less as well. I've heard someone say we have to eat more to lose more. I'm not so sure if that's really true or not, but I'm willing to give it a try.

Today's calories: 2298, fat 114gr 47%, carbs 189gr 27%, protein 141gr 26%. I really should have the protein be higher than the carbs but oh well! I had a lot of bread today, more than usual. If you would like to see the craziness that is my eating, and how my weightloss has been over time, you can also check out my fitday at: http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=kilaani

Quotes of the day:
"The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results."
Anthony Robbins

"The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is the best."
Thomas Jefferson

Post from the boards: 

I thought I'd share since I've been a bit down with my slow weight loss this month. (By the way, thanks everyone that responded to my discouraged post! - it helps to know that 9months out has been slow for a few of us....)

But on to my moments!

I went to Catherine's tonight after working out at the gym because a friend told me I needed a new bra to support the sisters! I've gone from a 54DDD, and my last bra was a 48DD I believe, but, it's been a bit big nowadays. My NEW bra is a 44DD... but that's not the victory! I was able to fasten the clasps of the bra behind my back!!!!!! I have been putting bras on over my head for as long as I can remember, so to be able to fasten it myself is HUGE!

The other moment was when I found a shirt that I had really wanted that someone returned. I had only seen it in a 3X before, and I knew that would be way too big. THIS shirt was a OX and when I tried it on, it FIT! A OX is supposed to be a 14/16, but I know that can't be correct, but still, it's a huge deal for me to say I bought something that was just a OX! I tried it on because when I bought a few 1x sweaters off ebay they fit fine so I thought I'd give it a chance! I was so jazzed! I bought it, and it ended up being on clearance and reduced so that it was just $11! I'll have to get my 10 month picture taken in it - going to wear it to the Imax Polar Express with my guy friends tomorrow - it's quite form fitting, lol, my guy friends will love it (at least one of 'em will notice, heh!)

I also tried a pair of slacks on that were a 24 and they fit! Most of the time, I'm still a 3x in bottoms and around a 1X in tops.

Take care,

Jill

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. I went skiing on 11/27/05 - what a fun day! I took the ski bus to Crystal Mountain. I didn't do a huge amount of runs, but enough that I felt like it was worth the trip! I found out that Queens Run is just too long for me! I had to stop half way down and sit down in the snow to rest! I marked it on my Goals list as one thing accomplished. There have been a few things off the list that I've been able to do!

Today is my 9 month anniversary of my revision from Band to DS! Weight - down 8 pounds since last month. That's a bit discouraging that it's not moving faster, but to be quite honest, I didn't work out a whole lot this past month and there were some ultra carby days. I will measure on 12/13/05 and hopefully that will show some difference from last month!

I've got a goal chart for weight that I'll share with you all. Each month I go back and change the estimated weight to my actual weight. By my accounts, I should be able to ski just fine this winter.
2005
440 start 3/7/05, 435 on surgery date 3/10/05
1 month April 10 395 -45
2 month May 10 387 -8
3 month June 10 375 –12
4 month July 10 354 -21!!!!
5 month Aug 10 344 –10
6 month Sept 10 329 –15
7 month Oct 10 311 –18
8 month Nov 10 300 -11
9 month Dec 10 292 – 8
2006
10 month Jan 10 283 – 9
11 month Feb 10 274 – 9
12 month Mar 10 259 –15 (-181 in one year!)
Projected:

13 month Apr 10 249 – 10
14 month May 10 239 – 10
15 month June 10 230 – 9
16 month July 10 220 - 10
17 month Aug 10 212 - 8
18 month Sept 10 199 – 13
19 month Oct 10 190 - 9
20 month Nov 10 182 - 8
21 month Dec 10 174 - 8
2007
22 month Jan 10 168 - 8
23 month Feb 10 162- 6
24 month Mar 10 158 –4
25 month Apr 10 154 – 4
26 month May 10 150 - 4
27 month Jun 10 148 – 2
28 month July 10 146 -2
29 month Aug 10 144 – 2
30 month Sept 10 142 –2

Quote for the day:
"I now realize that the small hills you see on ski slopes are formed around the bodies of forty-seven-year-olds who tried to learn snowboarding."
Dave Barry

"Skiing: the art of catching cold and going broke while rapidly heading nowhere at great personal risk."
Unknown

Down a bit more! Also updated my measurements from yesterday - I've gotten rid of 84 inches! That's way more than I am tall! I highly recommend that if you're starting this journey, do yourself a favor and measure! It will help a lot in the months when you don't lose a whole lot.

A sad thing happened last night. I tried on my ski boots that I bought 5 years ago, and they don't fit! My calves are too big! I can't figure out why because I weigh less now than I did when I lasst went skiing...go figure. I'm hoping there's some way to jury rig them or something, or maybe I'll have to use rental boots if they're able to even fit me! Grrrrr. I guess it's just that I had a 22" calf 8 months ago, and I'm only down to 19" now, haven't lost very much off my calves.

Struggling at the house, playing games instead of cleaning and doing homework, bad me!

Quote for the day:
"We must look for ways to be an active force in our own lives. We must take charge of our own destinies, design a life of substance and truly begin to live our dreams."
Les Brown

I made it into the 200's. I've just been realizing that it's probably been since 1998 that I've been 299! Maybe 1999, but, who knows! I'm so excited. I'm taking my ski gear into the shop today to get my skis tuned. I'm getting ready to go SKIING again! That will be one thing that I can update on my life goals list! I need to do a lot of things today, too, such as cleaning my place, but the gym and the ski shop are the highest on my list! :)

Whoo hoo! For this, I have to update my counter even though I just did it yesterday!

Quote[s] for the day:
"To succeed you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you."
Tony Dorsett

"Victory always starts in the head. It's a state of mind. It then spreads with such radiance and such affirmations that destiny can do nothing but obey."
Douchan Gersi

Well, I'm almost there. One more pound and I'll be in "twoterville". It has taken so long... my weight had been going down down down, then it got stuck at 302.. I've been between 302 and 301 for daaaaaays. Yesterday I hit 300 finally, and today, again, 300. I so hope that tomorrow I'll be 299 and I can finally be over that mark! I'm getting my pictures and measurements tomorrow at the gym, so should be fun!

My hair has stopped falling out! For the past almost 3 weeks, I've been getting anywhere from 115-185 grams of protein per day. For the last 2 weeks my average intake is 1967 calories per day, 146gr carbs (14gr fiber) and 131gr protein per day. I need to get those carbs down a bit. I think the increased protein has helped with the hair a lot.

I'm into crunch time at school. I actually bombed my first test since I started grad school over a year ago. It was standard deviation and stuff like that. I just freaked out over the math. I was almost in tears about it. My professor says that it's very possible to still get an A- in the class, so I hopefully will be all right. I had a presentation last night that went very well,so that's cool.

As an update, here's a post from the OH boards that I made on the 10th, too:

Today is my 8 month anniversary of my revision from band to DS. There are many times I've experienced plateaus, and my weight loss as a revision hasn't been as quick as some considering that I started with a bmi of 73.2, but..... today.... I am thankful!

Today I weight 300 pounds. Now that sounds like it's still an awful lot and it is, but, I started at 440 pounds. I've lost 140 pounds in 8 months. Today, I'm fitting in size 26 jeans, 8 months ago, I was tight in a 40 pant. Today, I'm wearing 2x in some tops, and 3x in jackets and pants, 8 months ago I was wearing 6/7x! I was a bmi 73.2 as I said, today I'm 49.9.

My personal trainer says I'm down to 36% bodyfat from over 50% before - not sure if I buy that, cuz I still think I'm probably in the 40% range, but, heck, it was fun to hear it. I'm working out 2 days a week at the gym, and I need to get it back up to that 3 days a week - I think that'll help my weight loss speed up a little.

I'm also in full time grad school classes and carting around my books and heavy backpacks and moving briskly. I almost bounded up the stairs the other day, and I don't have to hold on tightly to the railing as I go down the steps very carefully, one by one, anymore.

Getting under 300 has been a trial. I believe what someone else has said about setpoints - my body is fighting going down here, but it seems like I'll sit at one weight a week or two, then go down all in a week, then sit again. It's very strange.

I'm trying for a lot higher protein than I had been, and now I've been averaging around 137 a day. Since I started upping my protein, my hair loss has stopped entirely... coincidence? Maybe, but, I'm sticking with it. I get more than enough to eat, and it's amazing such a small amount comparitively is satisfying.

I take 7-8 tender iron (iron carbonyl) with 500mg vit c early in the morning, then through the day I take 8 calcium citrate with mag and d, 2 one a day without irons, 2 b100, 1 5000iu Dry D, 1 25,000iu Dry A, 2 zincs, and 2 acidopholus.

I do try to drink 2 protein shakes a day which helps my protein intake immensely.

I feel great! I love the DS!

I just wanted to share. I don't get on the OH board as much as I would like with grad school and all, but if anyone wants, I'm glad to email back and forth - mine is kilaani at gmail.com

I sure hope I'll finally hit 299 tomorrow. I'm getting my 8 month pictures and my measurements done when I'm at the gym tomorrow, so I'll update after that.

Jill

revision from band to DS 3/10/05
Dr. Baltasar, Spain
440/435/300/149
hw/sw/cw/gw
-140lbs

Quote for the day (a fun one!):
"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside."
Mark Twain

I hit 301.6 yesterday, but, it didn't stay :sniffle: I did have some great WOW moments today, though. I was at the gym and I had what's called a BodyGem test done. It's a test that you do by breathing into a machine which tests your oxygen use and spits out a number supposted to be the amount of calories you need for your resting metabolic rate.

One year ago, before I had surgery, I had this BodyGem test done. I came out with having a rate of 2730 calories a day to maintain my weight. Today, one year later, I had the same test. I came out at 1730 calories. Amazing to me that somehow the machine knew I'm this much smaller and need that many less calories. The interesting part is that since I malabsorb so much, I'm probably just right when I get around 2400-2500 calories in a day...it probably comes out to being around 1200-1400 calories after all the malabsorbing! But who knows, really. I just know I've been losing a bit faster when I eat a bit more - go figure! Or maybe it's just that when I am eating more calories, I'm getting in more protein. Another wow moment is that we took my pulse, and my resting pulse is now 60. I remember years ago, when I was at my highest weight, my pulse was like 110! Now it's 60! And... my personal trainer said that I'm down to 36.9% bodyfat. I don't know quite how that can be true, but, hey, that's cool! My starting BMI almost 8 months ago was 73.2, today my BMI is 50.2 - huge improvement! When I was at the gym, I was able to go on the treadmill at a 3.00 incline and at 2.3 miles per hour. Amazing! I only did 20 minutes today since I started to get an asthma attack, but that was enough, I had gotten a workout.

Another great moment was tonight when I went over to a friend's house. I saw a bunch of folks I haven't seen for a while, and I felt really good. I was wearing my new size 26 jeans (down from the 40 size jeans I was wearing before) and I was able to be on my feet nearly the whole time - had more energy to clean up and help out, and my friend said how great I looked. I felt great! Have I mentioned how I felt? I mean, I felt... great! Hehe.

Quote for the day:
"The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."
Allan K. Chalmers

Wow, the weight has been just dropping the past few days. I have increased my protein, too, and I think it will hopefully help my hair!

I had my second quiz last night, and I got 1 wrong, so that's not so bad. Today, I have 2 papers to write (short ones) before I leave for class in 4 hours. So, of course, what am I doing? Updating my profile!!! Argh.

Been feeling great the past few days, bathroom issues have been more frequent and I had true diarreah a few days ago, but it's not all that common for me. Atrocious smelling soft poop, yes, but not diarreah, usually. (Probably too much information for some, but I want to remember what reality is, especially for when I look back!).

I will be working out tomorrow and Saturday, so I'm back on track with the personal trainer. Now if I could just get one more day in on my own! I am getting excited about going hiking, again, though. I went 2 weeks ago with my sister to the Big Four Ice Caves..I can't remember if I already posted about that. Anyway, it was a 2 mile hike and I did so good! Yesterday I got the trekking poles I had ordered, I think I'll be a whole lot more confident on the trail with those!

Okay, I must go work hard! Or at least, I need to go open up the boxes that just arrived - a new down comforter and duvet cover from overstock.com. Whoot!

Quote for the day:
"My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return."
Maya Angelou

Well, I finally broke the plateau 2 days ago, and it's been sooo much better since then. It's crazy how long I was stuck and now it's moving like gangbusters again. I received a copy of my labs, and everything looked quite good except for my prealbumin. I was at 15 and normal is 20+. Basically, prealbumin is the 2.5 day snapshot of what my protein is doing, so I haven't been getting enough in. Now I'm doing 1-2 protein shakes a day. I actually have gotten well over 100 grams of protein in the last 5 days or so and feel better about that.

I'm still struggling a lot with school. I need to have been studying all this morning and did I? Newp! I'm in trouble this quarter. My classes are like vegetables when I've already had my dessert. All last year I was taking reading classes to get my endorsement done - now I have the "core" classes left, so that's no fun!

Quote for the day:
"First say to yourself what you would be;and then do what you have to do."
Epictetus

I have been very frustrated since the 4th of October. My weight has hovered with the same 3 pounds since then. On my 7 month anniversary, I was at 311 - down 129 pounds, so I have left that on my ticker. Since then, I've jumped down to 310.8 for a day, then back up to 313, and then hovering between 312 and 311. It is maddening. I have not been to the gym much in the past 2-3 weeks, so I am beginning to think that unless I exercise not much is happening. My food intake varies from 1500-1800 normally, with some days up to 2500 and some days as low as 1200- though not many in that range. I had my measurements and pictures done yesterday, and I am pleased with that, although, I haven't been very happy with my pictures the last few months for some reason. I really liked my 5 month pictures, since then, not so much. Maybe it's my hair. I went dark and I think it maybe makes me look older.

The other day I had the worst oil slicks I've ever had. I have NEVER had it where it was literally involuntary, but, the other day (while I was working, mind you) I had major issues! Fortunately, I dealt with it the best I could and was wearing a skirt! How uncomfortable, though. It continued all day. The weird thing was that I hadn't had any of that yellow/orange oil slick stuff in the toilet for almost a month or so, and had started to wonder if my DS was working! Especially with the slow weight loss I've been experiencing this month.

I sure hope I'll break get to that 299 mark this month, but I'm starting to wonder! Today is the 20th, and there's only 20 days til the 10th of November and sheesh - NOTHING is happening!

I am struggling with school issues right now - of course. My classes aren't as fun this quarter (though interesting) and I'm having some motivational issues. My best advice to anyone trying to study is stay away from http://zone.msn.com ! I first got addicted to Zuma and now I've been playing a lot of Bespelled. At least with Bespelled I can walk away and come back to the same game easily.

My mom had surgery this month and was in the hospital longer than expected. This was a huge concern for all of us, she ended up in rehab for 5 days to try and get her strength back, but, after that she came home and now is doing really well. In fact, she left for Las Vegas last Saturday and she's happy to be at her "other" home down there with her 84 year old boyfriend and lots to do socially there. She gets way too bored up here. I was really pleased to be able to throw her a surprise party the night before she left. Almost the whole family came, and I think she was very touched. Lots of great food, too. I made Chicken Phad Thai (from Trader Joes - it's soooo easy to make) and it turned out great!

Quote for the day:
"If everything's under control, you're going too slow."
Mario Andretti

Today is the second day I've been at 320 - I have now lost 120 pounds! For some reason, that just sounds so cool! Unfortunately, the past 4 days haven't been so fun. I caught a cold. However, before that happened, on Friday night I did something I wouldn't have been able to do: I went to the Puyallup Fair and walked for about 3 hours. I walked way more than I would have walked before. It felt great. I also sampled a lot of stuff - a full scone with raspberry jam on it, later on about a half of an elephant ear, later on a krusty pup (corn dog) which was so nasty that I threw away most of the crust, and lastly a beef empanada. It was wonderful being able to have just a little bit and feel stuffed, or just feel free to throw the rest away. That would never have happened before! Someone posted today that, "it's so much better to be in the 'oh my goodness it's 4:30pm and I have so much more protein I need to get in', rather than the 'oh rats, it's 10:30am and I've already eaten all my points for the day!'" That's totally the difference. Most days I'm pushing to make sure I get enough protein in and most of the time I just don't feel like eating all that much. Too weird, comparatively!

The day after the fair which was the first full day of fall I got a bad cold. It's really been the first bad cold I've had since surgery - so over 6 months. It sure has been keeping me down the past few days. I went through over a box of kleenex my nose was running so badly. Today the cold dropped into my chest, so the breathing issues are making things annoying. I even had to drop my 2 sub jobs for today and tomorrow. I also cancelled the Seattle DS meeting that was supposed to have occured last Saturday. I was disappointed about that, but I was feeling awful and I hadn't had hardly any response about the meeting, either.

Tomorrow I'm taking my mother to the hospital for her surgery. I'm praying all will go smoothly for her! Things are going great with Ginny, and she is just the most beautiful little blessing to me. My mom loves to watch her, too. I don't know how I could have lived without a cat around. :)

I didn't go to the gym at all last week due to scheduling conflicts. I hope to get back this Wednesday and Thursday. We'll see how it goes. I ended up buying 13 more sessions to try and get myself through the fall.

This is a picture of me from last month th. At least I like the hat! I got it in Costa Rica when I lived there.

Quote of the day:
"I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go."
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

It looks like I've broken the plateau, thank goodness. I'm down 113 pounds now. I went to a support meeting in Portland on Saturday and one thing they said is that I've been probably eating too llittle. That could very well be. The past 2 days I've been eating closer to 2000 and weight has come off both days. We'll see how that goes.

I measured today, and I updated my list. I'm down 64.25 inches in 6 months which is pretty decent. My personal trainer Anjuli says she thinks I look smaller every time she sees me.

Yesterday, I had to move all the patio furniture, and I did it all by myself. It's amazing, I couldn't have done it 113 pounds ago. It's a good thing I have been working out. I'm sore today in my shoulders, upper back, biceceps, and forearms... it was a lot of heavy lifting. They are tearing up our patios and doing some work that has been desparately needed, but it's sad, we won't have our patios to use for about 3 months :( Oh well, the weather has changed to fall - it hasn't been much of an indian summer this time around so far. Who knows, maybe it'll happen. Fall is my favorite time of year, usually.

I need to concentrate on water and fiber and vitamins. I've been a bit of a slacker lately, and I need to also make my 6 month labs appointment! Grr, I had better get off the computer and get some things done! Of course, I know I've said that before!

Today is my 6 month anniversary. I am down 111 pounds in 6 months. Here's what I posted to the Yahoo duodenalswitch group:

Today is my 6 month anniversary from when I had my revision surgery.

On March 10th, I had my old gastric band from 7 years ago removed and was revised to the DS by Dr. Baltasar in Spain.

I have gotten rid of 111 pounds and feel great. I'm working out several days a week with a personal trainer and usually try to get a few days in on my own. I have so much energy compared to before. My asthma has once again gone away and the edema in my legs is gone - though my ankles still get swollen looking sometimes. My joints and back don't ache much anymore so moving is physically much easier!

I've lost bunches of inches - as of 5 months, I had lost almost 60 inches, I'm sure it's more than that now, but I won't be measured until Tuesday. I've gone from a bmi of 71.2 to 53.1. I'm getting closer to just morbidly obese from being super super morbidly obese!

I would switch to the DS again in a heartbeat - I can eat a very small normal meal and don't feel deprived. I'm drinking protein shakes too, and trying to stay on top of all my vitamins.

The one thing I still struggle mightily with is getting enough water in! I also have had some significant hair loss in front (of course, grrrrr!) since my 4th month. I'm getting tired of that, but I know it will grow back and already is.. it's just the chunk of hair that's new is soooo short compared to the rest of my bangs!

Life is good, and I just wanted to give you all an update.

Jill
revision from band to DS 3/10/05
Dr. Baltasar, Spain
440/435/329/160
hw/sw/cw/gw
-111lbs
www.picturetrail.com/kilaani (no 6 month update yet, that'll be Tuesday, as well)

~~~~~~
So, today I drove down to Portland to go to the Baltasar support group meeting. We talked about vitamins and hair loss and odors... heh. All three relevant topics. My hair has been awful. I actually was trying to color it back to my natural color of light golden brown, and somehow the color grabbed red, so now I'm a redhead. Don't be shocked when you see my 6 month pictures!

We went to lunch afterwards and I got to talk with Dina a bit, bless her heart. :) It was good fun. I saw Katie, who had surgery three months before me, and she's down 190 pounds! Wow! She looks so incredibly different.

I would have to lose 20 pounds a month to catch up to her. Not likely to happen, however, as Dina said - I'm a revision, and probably 20 years older than she is! Oh well, can't compare myself to others. I'm pleased with where I am, for the most part.

Quote for the day:
"To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!"
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Not only did I make the century club, I blew right past it! I'm down 104 pounds today. Whoot! It's nice to finally have a long run of weight coming off rather than these stops and starts.

Oh, here's a link to a cool bmi chart I've found because I love the way they break it down: http://www.johnhustedmd.com/bmi.htm

Things are going well. My mom comes into town tonight, and my final paper is due by 5pm tomorrow, and I have a lot of cleaning to do before mom arrives, but I'm feeling pretty good about it.

I'm really tired today, but have been doing a lot of organizing (actually more last night than today) and I nearly have my desk cleared! I also got a new printer/fax/scanner combo yesterday at Frye's and it was only $77. I was pretty excited about that - it's a Canon MP390 -which got editor choice reviews last year when it came out. The reason it's so cheap is because it is a refurb model - that doesn't matter to me, though, as long as I have the 2 year warranty on it. That cost $19.99 so in essence, I got the warranty free since the regular price for the printer is $99. In any case, it's great to have a printer again!

Ginny is wonderful, I got her a new bling bling color - it's silver and sparkly looking, she looks great in it, and I like her having the bell on.

I had better get to work. Exercise has been a little lax this week, only Monday and Tuesday as far as the gym goes - and I HAVE to get to the gym tomorrow night after my paper is turned in! I will also commit to going on Saturday.

I have been bagging up some more clothes that no longer fit, and today I put a few things that are 34/5x-6x-7x stuff on ebay to sell. We'll see how it all goes. I could sure use a few extra pennies here and there!

Quote(s) for the day:
"Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory."
Albert Schweitzer

"The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."
Allan K. Chalmers

I made it! The century club is mine. -100 pounds, whoo hoo! Just had to make a short post to that effect and update my ticker.

 

Well, it finally shifted in the past few days. I'm officially down 99 pounds. I can't wait to see if tomorrow brings me into the Century Club.

The big thing that has happened to me in the past week is that I have adopted a kitten, though really, she adopted me!

I've been wanting a cat for a little while now and my mum finally agreed (mostly) that I could keep one, providing I keep things clean, etc. It has been over 6 years since I've had a pet. Lately I've felt a bit lonely when mom is gone, so I think it would be good for me.

I have been frustrated, though, because a lot of the shelters won't let someone adopt a single kitten, they only adopt them in pairs "because it's better socialization for the cats". Well, that may be true, but it really doesn't make sense that it's better for a cat to stay in foster care with a bunch of other cats rather than be the queen of someone's household and absolutely adored. Well, go figure, anyway, I had gone and looked at the Humane Society and no kittens really snagged me, and I went to Dooley's who have cats from the Purrfect Pet and ditto, none caught my heart.

Early Monday morning 8-8-05, I went out about 2:30am, and there was this cinnamon tabby kitty on my patio! She was very sweet and let me pick her up and we went and sat together for a while. She was purring like crazy and I was rather smitten. I figured she just probably got out from someone,but, I did notice she had fleas and no collar. I finally put her back outside and she stared at me through the sliding glass door as if to say, "let me in!" but I didn't. Still Monday morning, I got up and she jumped out of my chair on the patio where she slept and was really glad to see me. That night, she showed up again, and I walked down the yard to see if she belonged to any of my condo neighbors. One guy calls out when he saw her, "she's not ours, take her!" and said that Faye, another neighbor has been feeding her. I talked to Faye who said that she had shown up the previous Wednesday and was starving so she fed her. I admitted that I had been looking for a kitty, and she was delighted - gave me all sorts of things for her and kitty food and litter. She even gave me kitty toys and it was interesting, she had been feeding her the same type of cat food I always use - Iams.

I didn't keep her in Monday night, and on Tuesday morning she wasn't there. I was kind of sad, thought maybe she went home. Tuesday night, she showed up again so I left her in with me that night. She was wonderful... slept in my bed with me. I put her out on Wednesday morning because I had to spend a long day, but she was there when I got home Wednesday night, yay! I also got her a fun kitty tree at Petco on Wednesday night.

Thursday, 8-11-05, I took her to the vet, and she determined (like I thought) that Ginny is between 5-6 months old, and actually, she is a tortoiseshell tabby (known as Torbies) and she tested feline leukemia and fiv negative, yay! I got her first set of shots and deflead her with Advantage - it's wonderful stuff, highly recommend it for fleas. I used it for years with my other cats. I'm feeding her Iams kitten food, too, which is healthy good stuff.

Yesterday, 8-12-05, was a long day for Ginny. I took her to a wonderful mobile spay and neuter station put on by Pasado's Haven (a great organization - http://www.pasadosafehaven.org/ - and it only cost me $30 for spaying and $15 for microchipping Ginny. She came home last night a bit groggy, but has been recovering great!

I added an album for her on my picturetrail - www.picturetrail.com/kilaani and take a look. She's sweet and affectionate but a little independent as well. I think she's learned her name a bit, and she's just perfect for me. Seems like she was meant to be mine! The funny thing is, I've spent a whole lot more money than I would have for adopting a cat from one of the shelters, but she's so worth it. $131 at the vet on Thursday, $45 on Friday - but that's not REALLY that much more than $100.

She has been perfectly happy to stay inside, which is good because I want her to bond with me and not be confused. Additionally, I have to keep her in for a week after being spayed. Here's one pic of her - since I just figured out how to add them. I'll probably go back in a few spots and add more pictures.

 

Other things going on - I've struggled the past week with getting my vitamins in - and water has been horrible! Go figure. However, food has been ok. It seems like since I decided to add back in 2 protein shakes a day, I've been a bit more lax about getting enough protein with food in - I really need to strike a balance with that! I worked out twice last week, and I need to hit the gym today, big time.

People on the boards have said they can tell the difference in my new pictures on picturetrail... I like my 5 month pics :) I updated my after picture below.

Take care, everyone. Oh, here are the quotes for the day:

"I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature."
John D. Rockefeller

"We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough."
Helen Keller

"When the world says, "Give up," hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
Unknown

"Friends are as companions on a journey, who ought to aid each other to persevere in the road to a happier life."
Pythagoras

(Crossposted to the yahoo lists)

I just had my 5 month anniversary yesterday.

I was sorely disappointed that I didn't make my goal of 100 pounds
lost - I was off by 4 pounds yesterday, but, now today I'm just 3 away
from the Century club. Maybe next week!

I've been working out at the gym 3-4 days a week and I'm feeling good,
and just updated my picturetrail to reflect my new pics. I don't think
I can tell that much from just losing 10 pounds between months 4 and
5, but I did lose just about 6 inches in that time, too, so that's
something I guess! :)

I struggle still with getting water in - the past few days I've even
struggled with remembering vitamins and getting enough food in, and I
usually don't have any problem with that! I think the heat last week
got me a bit off track.

I am consistently above 90 grams protein - and I'm going for 120 as a
goal this month and then I can work up from there. I'm planning on
doing 2 shakes a day in addition to my food. Champion whey chocolate
stack, IDS Cinnamon vanilla, and Pro-delite white chocolate raspberry
are my favorites to date.

As far as supplements go, I'm taking:
500 mg vit c with 7 tender iron (iron carbonyl) which equal 275 mg (Vitalady)
2000 mg calcium citrate with mag and d (from Costco)
2 multi vits (1 a day without iron)
2 adeks (yay Tom)
1 b-100
b12 sublingual whenever I think of it
1 hair, skin, nails (which hasn't really helped my hair loss that
started at 4 months)
2 acidolpholus

I'm going to be getting my labs done in the next month - by my 6 month
anniversary is my goal.

I also just got my dexascan on the 8th. And now, the white envelope please!

What the tscore means is:
0.0 to -0.9 - normal to low normal
-1.0 to -1.4 10% to 15% below normal
-1.5 to -1.9 15% to 20% below normal
-2.0 to -2.4 20% to 25% below normal considered osteporotic
-2.5 or lower more than 25% below normal considered osteoporotic
My scores:
spine
L1 tscore 2.0 zscore 2.2
L2 tscore 1.4 zscore 1.6
L3 tscore 1.6 zscore 1.8
L4 tscore 1.7 zscore 2.4
Total tscore 118% better than a 25 year old female is how I understand it.
total zscore 121% better than a 40 year old female

hip
neck of the hip zscore -0.8 zscore -0.5
troch zscore .4 zscore .5
inter zscore 1.7 zscore 1.8
total tscore 116% better than that 25 year old, zscore 119% better
than the 40 year old

wrist
1/3 tscore -0.2 zscore .2
mid tscore .1 zscore .5
ud tscore .9 zscore 1.1
total tscore 102% better than the 25 year old, zscore 106% better than
the 40 year old

I feel really good about my results and I'm soooo glad I got them done
now so that I have a baseline to go by. I have only a tiny loss in the
wrist and neck of the hip bone (where the elderly or osteoporotic are
at risk for fractures) and I can continue weight training to help that
hip.

I'm so glad I have the DS - I know there is NO WAY that I would have
been down 96 pounds in 5 months if I didn't have the surgery. I am
very thankful!!!

Well, I'm still at 95 pounds lost. I'm thinking that I've become a little lax about watching what I'm eating and perhaps just plain getting too much food in! Yesterday I ate a meaty breakfast burrito AND a half sandwich for breakfast, but, then didn't eat again until late in the afternoon when I had probably 4oz of chicken and some yakisoba noodles, but also snacked on cinnamon nuts that had lots of sugar on them - bad me! I also drank a glass of honey mead and a glass of sasparilla with full sugar in it. I was at the Washington State Renaissance Fantasy Faire and wasn't nearly as careful as I have been. To continue my sugar day, I ate more nuts on the way home (probably a half cup or more in all) and then had a small McDonald's vanilla soft serve on the way home and later on in the evening finished my other half of the sandwich from the morning annnnnnnd had a half a slice of lemon cake! Oh my goodness! That's the most sugar ALL IN ONE DAY that I've had since before surgery. No wonder the scale didn't budge today. I just want to know what I was thinking yesterday. I was a little over 2000 calories - which is high for me, too. Plus side was that I did drink a protein shake in the morning before leaving for the Faire. The Faire was a lot of fun, too. I met up with a few friends there, and we had a great time in the beer gardens listening to the Thryce Wicked Wenches sing. Lots of cute guys in garb, too. Whoot!

Well, only one thing to do today - pick myself up, dust myself off and get moving in the right direction! I commit to throwing the rest of the nuts away - they are killer in sugar, which I really don't need! I left them in the truck last night, so as soon as I go there, I'm tossing the rest in the garbage - I sure don't need them still sitting on my hips. I am going to back off of eating out. It seems since my mom left, I've been eating out everyday, and I'm sure the sodium is also killing my weight loss. I've been at the same weight/up/down since the 29th of July. I so wanted to be down to 340 by the 10th - but it's only 3 days away and after the recent fiascos I doubt it will happen. I'm just amazed when I hear about folks eating 2500-3000 calories with the DS and still losing weight - it sure doesn't seem to work that way for me. My other thought is that sure they may be losing weight but are they losing it as effectively as they might have if they weren't eating quite as much. I don't know! It's a strange thing, the DS.

One thing for sure, is that I need to get back to being regimented with my gym time, too. 4-5 days cardio and 4 days weight training - I have got to keep doing it! I did do 3 days weight training and 4 days cardio this week, so that's something, but, gotta get it back in shape!

As far as personal life, I had a great time last night - met a bunch of people from a friend's church, nice folks. He called me yesterday when I was on the way to the Faire to invite me to this get together - sweet of him! Hopefully we'll be going to a Mariner's game on the 15th if I can get enough folks that want to go. It has been such great weather lately, there's nothing like hitting the Safeco field for a few hours to watch the best sport out there! :)

I missed church today again, my bathroom time seems to always hit me on Sunday mornings. I think I'm going to stay at home today, do some major homework and get the house picked up. I will also just eat at home - no eating out today. I'm thinking 1 lil sausage and a scrambled egg for breakfast...or... I'll do the protein shake first, then do fiber one and soy milk - that might be better as another reason for the super slow weight loss this week is that my fiber levels have been down the tubes. Yeah, I think I'll do the cereal for breakfast and then do the egg for lunch later! Oh, forgot, my one foray out today will be to the gym - I have to get that in!

Quotes for the day:

"If you think you can win, you can. Faith is necessary to victory."
William Hazlitt

"Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more." Louis L'Amour

"Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be."
Zig Ziglar

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes."
Charles R. Swindoll

"It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi

"My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out."
Ronald Reagan

Well, yesterday I finally squeaked in at 95 pounds lost! Last night was the first Seattle support group that I've been trying to restart - I think it went really well. A few pre-ops, a few post ops and me! Dinner was great at TGIF - I had been craving the Jack Daniel's Shrimp for a while...but... someone got a piece of vanilla cheesecake or something like that, and I ate half of it! Arggh! Definitely hadn't planned on that, but my word it was so good. I was so happy we got together and everyone seems to want to continue, so I think we'll try for a Saturday lunch next time. I'm thinking Canyon's in Canyon Park might be great for a lunch date since it's fairly quiet there and right off the freeway.

In the last week I've gone to 3 grad reunion dinners, too (from folks on the graduate-ossg list on Yahoo groups. All these dinners out! I'm forgetting I'm a starving student and my wallet is noticing- it's a sad thing to have no income! I had a chance to talk with Michelle (vitalady) and I think I've been convinced that we really do need protein shakes as DSers.. We don't have the full stomach that used to churn up and digest the food like we did before - Michelle or maybe it was JuliaZ used the analogy of the stomach churning the food around like in a washing machine, and we just don't have the space or the amount of stomach acid as before to process things. In that case, if the food isn't digested enough, it's not going to be that helpful to the system. So, I've started doing at least 2-3 shakes per day to start. I'm getting my labs soon, so we'll see where I'm at so far. Yesterday, with the 2 protein shakes I got in (and the silly cheesecake) I had the biggest calorie day since my surgery. However, I still was down .20 today, so go figure. There doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason as to when my body decides to drop. I can have a few (relatively) low calorie days and then pick up some more and then drop weight!

Last week was hectic getting through my assessment class - I'm glad that one is over! I love my new class - it's a real pleasure - small sized with only 4 of us and the professor is great!

Today is my day to really get the house cleaned. I must admit I'm rather half-hearted about it, but it has to be done. My room is still a mess. My mom says that my nephew's is just like it - he's 22 and I'm 40 but we're definitely related!

Tonight we're going to my sister's house - having a picnic there. I had started a crockpot meal earlier, so I guess I'll take that. It's nervewracking, though, because it's a recipe I made up from a few different ones. I hope it's good. I took a pork tenderloin, cored and peeled 2 apples, cut them up into small slices, added brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon, chopped pecans and chopped dried cranberries along with about a quarter cup of cider vinegar. It's been cooking a few hours now and it smells so good. Also, I sliced the tenderloin down the middle part and piled the apples, etc, in the cavity. I sure hope it turns out good tasting! My mom is always telling my family how well I cook so this would be embarrassing if it doesn't turn out!

Oh, yesterday was also a big day for another reason. I interviewed for a teaching job. I think it went well, overall, I was myself and laughed and joked a bit with them, and they seemed to be marking a lot of +'s on my scoring sheet (from when I could see). We'll see. I would definitely have a dilemma on my hands if they offered me a full time position. I want to finish my master's degree this year, and there is no way I could do it if I was taking classes. In fact, I don't know that I could take classes at all during my first year teaching - it would be pretty nuts. I told the guy up front that I would be particularly interested in a .5 position - that way if I worked 40 hours, at least I'd be able to still do school. After all, I need to sub anyway, so this would be a great way to work and get in with the district. Monroe is a really nice town, too, very beautiful area.

I *have* to stop procrastinating here and get going on my laundry, cleaning, excavating my room, etc. My mom even mentioned that
"we'll see" about a cat for me if I can keep my room clean, heh, I feel like I'm 14. Too funny! Part of the reason I'm procrastinating is that I'm soooo sore from the gym the past 2 days. My triceps and my quads and gluts are killing me - it's a good sore, but it's hard to get moving. I love feeling like I Have muscles. It has been such a long time. Only 45 pounds to under 300... I can't wait!!!! Less than 5 pounds to the century club, that's a big deal, too.

It finally moved a bit lower - it's nice to get a bit further away from 350, I was hovering around there and 349 for a few days!

I went to the gym Sunday and did upper body and I'm still sore two days later! The pool has been closed, though, and it makes me annoyed.

Gorgeous weather here in Seattle, but I haven't gotten to enjoy it. This is the last week of my intensive 4 week grad class, and I have a huge project due in two days. Have I started writing yet? Erm...no. I got mostly caught up on all the stuff I was behind on, so I'm not going to worry - I will work hard today and we have tomorrow to work on it as well. I sure pray I get it finished.

Speaking of praying, I visited a friend's church on Sunday and enjoyed it. I went to lunch with him and a few of his single friends, too, which was fun.

I'm supposed to go to the cabin this weekend with some friends of mine but I'm not sure how it's all going to play out. I hope it works out, I'd love to be able to get some sun and relax.

There is also a grads reunion for the yahoogroups graduate-ossg e-mail group that Michelle runs (vitalady). I think I may be able to go for the potluck on Sunday at least.

I need prayer that I get this all done! I must finish my class! Of course, I'd also love to get to the gym, too, but I'm putting it off 'til Thursday when class is over. I'll just have to exercise Thurs/Fri/Sat to make my 4 days for this week.

I'm in good spirits about my weight and how it's been moving. I'm feeling pretty good inside my skin - lots more energy. I did figure out that I think sourdough doesn't work too well for me - I had a Monte Cristo last night (oh my, it was sooo good) and I ate too much of it, but, it worked out. But, I found out it was made of sourdough and a few hours later, my goodness, the gas! Not terribly smelly kind, but, continuous!

I want to start trying to have a quote with my posts. Today here is one I found. It makes sense considering my ...ahem... foolishness with eating so much in the way of carbs yesterday and so far below my usual fiber... but the day is gone, over done and here's the quote that reflects that!

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

That's all the news (ha) that's fit to print for the moment! Have a wonderful day everyone and God bless! It's sunny, it's warm, and it's good to be alive.

Just had to post today because I made another milestone - 90 pounds gone! Hurray! Less than 10 left to the Century Club!

I found a great BMI website at Dr. Husted's site - it breaks down into super super morbidly obese (which is what I was with 71 bmi), etc... right now, I'm in just the super morbidly obese now, cool!

Here are my new goals:
299 - morbidly obese (49 bmi)
240 - severly obese (37 bmi)
210 - obese (34 bmi)
179 - overweight (29 bmi)
and.... drumroll please!
149 - NORMAL (24.8 bmi)

I think 149 is my new NORMAL goal weight. I'll keep 149 as my fantasy goal, but I think I'll be happy anywhere 170 and under. We'll see.

I'm still holding at this weight - been going down bit by bit, though. I've been feeling pretty good, though I've been staying up too late at night. Really, I've been spending too much time on the computer reading e-mail, reading the boards and such.

School has been suffering as far as getting my reading done. I need to get the huge assignment done in one week, so I have to start cracking!

Been doing the gym thing faithfully, which is great. I updated my measurements today and did my 4 month pictures, will be uploading them soon!

I made it! I was so jazzed today when I weighed even less than my hopeful goal. I did get the kitchen clean today, too, and went to Costco and cooked some things, but, other than that it was rather a lazy day again. I tried on my renaissance faire garb and one bodice I got was way too big, the other is close to being too big. I also tried on a few dresses that about a month ago were a bit too tight - they are wearable now!

I'm below my lowest weight since 2002... I weighed 355 at my lowest in around May 2002 while I lived in Costa Rica - feels good to pass that while going in the right direction!

I did make it to church today, and a few people commented on my tan, but noone mentioned my weight, heh, except one gal that knows about the surgery. She said "you're melting away" ... not quite true, but, I appreciated it none the less.

I was a bit concerned tonight when I went on the OH boards. I saw one person post that their high for calories is 1400 and their low is 600. I can't imagine eating 600 calories now - I would think my body would go into starvation mode! I'm averaging close to 1700 calories a day. Today's calories were at 1576, a bit lower than usual for me - protein 104, fiber 21, water 64, carbs 82 (rather low for me, really) and fat intake at 57% of my food. I ended up the night feeling hungry, but drank my water to get it in. I did NOT get all my calcium in tonight - bad me. Overall, I feel like I'm doing real well. I probably don't get all my vits in once or twice a week, but for the most part I do.

Since I got my Nalgene bottle, I've been getting in at least 64oz every day! I like it alot since I can measure the water, but I've probably already said that. REI has them...just google REI and Nalgene and it will come right up. :)

Oh well, tis time to go to sleep (actually long past my bedtime) and I have to study in the morning! (Yeah, right!) Well, I have good intentions, at least!

From the boards:
I'm really excited today! Friday I made it to 85 pounds gone which was my personal goal for Sunday the 10th, my four month anniversary. Whoo hoo!

This DS thing is starting to feel really good! I'm also working out 4 days a week, both weight training and cardio, and one more day of just cardio (usually elliptical). Oh, another milestone was that tonight, when I was on the elliptical machine, I went the whole 30 minutes at level 19 (resistance 1) and it felt great to see the whole screen filled with the yellow! I definitely couldn't do that 4 months ago, usually then I was max about level 6 or 8 for 20-30, so the intensity has definitely gone up!

Now if only I could get back on top of my grad school class readings and get my room cleaned (it's a disaster), then I'd really feel super good!

Jill
 

I did it! I'm down 85 pounds today. What is exciting is that not only is this the lowest weight I've been to in this decade (I got to 355 briefly while I lived in Costa Rica in 2002), but I also know that 85 pounds more and I'll be to 270 which is the lowest weight I had gotten to with the band. Wow. I just realized, I had gotten down 170 pounds with the band, cuz I distinctly remember hitting 270 pounds. I had been saying I only lost 150 pounds with the band! All that is neither here nor there, I'm just happy to be down this 85 pounds! I have less than 15 pounds to go to the century club - whoo hoo!

I like my new trainer Anjuli (pronounced Annjolie) a lot. She actually has been working me harder than I was before, but partly is because I improved so much with Nicole that I am up to doing harder stuff now. I was doing one leg bench presses yesterday. I found out what I already knew - I'm incredibly weaker in my left leg than in my right, I've been compensating for it with my right leg doing more work, so now we need to strengthen that left. It was so bad for a while that I had to go up the stairs one step at a time - left leg leading cuz my right leg had to alway be the one pushing off. I'm enjoying the weight training, though, so I highly recommend it to anyone out there! I'm sooooo sore today, but it's a good sore. It makes me realize that I do have muscles, that I'm not just all flab - and believe me, the flab is considerable.

The status my house cleaning of late has been awful. My room is completely out of control - I hate it! I'm not sure quite what to do with all of my too big clothes. Part of my would love to sell them, but, that's a huge hassle, part of me just thinks giving them away would be better for someone else. All the things are 6x. I'll figure it out, but I need to, soon, as it's cluttering up the place having so many sizes out.

I went to the virtual model site online, and played with that - I wish I looked that good at 350 as the model does. Problem is she doesn't have any rolls! I'm getting more and more pear shaped as I lose weight, which is discouraging a little since when I first was fat, I was still proportionate. Oh well. Looks like I'm able to get on 3x shirts (tight) right now, but, no way on pants yet. I had to buy a new bathing suit (hopefully the 4x will fit) because my other one is practically falling off it was so stretched out. I've been a little mad at Junonia, the quality of the last suit I got was pretty lousy - it got little white spots on the suit after wearing it 5 times. I think it might have been that I was really too big for the 6x and it stretched out because of that, so I can't really say it was them and not me. The new suit I got was expensive, even with being on sale- because I want to try the new chloroban material which is supposed to be chlorine resistant.

I am done with week 2 of my class. I was late yesterday, but, it looked like I hadn't missed much. I wish I enjoyed the class more, but it's pretty boring compared to all my cool reading classes. I'm a bit worried about the final project, but, I'm sure I'll pull it together. I'm still behind on the reading, but I did do some catching up the other day. Reading and my house cleaning are big things for my weekend. I also have a party on Saturday that I'm going to for my nephew's engagement/ housewarming. I'm also considering heading down for Dina's support group meeting in Portland, but I'd have to get out of there like by 2pm at the very latest in order to get to Joe's party.

Yesterday and day before yesterday where super almost normal as to bathroom issues, but, last night and this morning were back to the more usual post-DS issues. I'm taking acidopholus again, so we'll see if it helps even more. I don't think my issues are anywhere close to the sort of thing that a lot of folks experience, and I'm looking forward to it abating more and more.

Oh.. one last kudo to me for yesterday - I got in 78oz of liquid! Yay for me!! I bought a new yellow/green nalgene bottle (with Seattle Pacific University on it) and it has the oz's on the side so I can measure easier! It holds 32oz, too, so hopefully that is going to help. I drank a whole 32oz at the gym yesterday, actually a little more than that; seems like the only time I get a lot of water in are gym days.

I hope everyone has a fun and productive day - that's what I'm going for today!